Escapism
by rosesakura437
Summary: Emma has been sheltered by her father, le Paradox for her entire life. She is expected to take on his legacy and never question his authority, ever. However, she dreads taking on the legacy and longs to be free to choose her own fate. Eventual Carmelita x OC
1. Change

She sat there on her bed, looking at the ceiling. It was a light rose pink, her favorite color. She sighed. She then went towards her window and opened it up. The fresh spring breeze gently went by her face. She sat by her window and stared outside for awhile, gazing at the bustling city below her. Cars were going past each other every second, and many people were walking on the sidewalks. She also saw people eating and sitting down at a local restaurant that was always bustling with many people. She often enjoyed watching the people sitting down and eating, it almost made her feel like she was there with them...enjoying the atmosphere itself. She wished she could be down there with them. She wanted so badly to be able to go out and see the world….but, she knew she couldn't. Her father would be absolutely furious if he knew that she had gone outside while he was gone. She sighed again wistfully. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Oh god please don't let it be father, I really don't want to talk to him right now. Pleasepleaseplease Instead a timid, and nervous female voice spoke. "Milady? Can I come in? I uh….brought you some snacks."

A wave of relief poured over me as I got up from the window and went to open the door. It was Marina, my personal maid. She had been with me ever since I was 10 years old and has been my very best friend ever since then. Marina was carry a tray of food including a sandwich, chips, crackers and some juice. She then put it down on my table and started taking everything out. She then gave me a sandwich and some cookies to eat while pouring me some juice. I looked over at her and laughed. "Marina, you can sit with me, it's okay. Father isn't here, no one is gonna get mad." Marina blushed and then slowly sat on the floor by the window with me. She then spoke up. "I hope you like the food, I uh… made it today." I looked at her, astonished and spoke. " Wow! Really? But you never cook food or prepare it, that is Flora's job." Marina then corrected, " Well… Flora wasn't feeling too well and she didn't want to handle the food. So, I figured why not? But it…..it isn't bad is it? Because I will make you something else if it is." I laughed, "Marina this is awesome! It tastes so good, thank you. I really appreciate it." Marina smiled and laughed along with me. " Oh my gosh, I am so happy! I finally made good food!" I then gazed out into the city again. Remembering my situation. Marina noticed my change in expression and put her hand on my shoulder. She then inquired, " You had another fight with him, didn't you?" I nodded. Marina comforted me, " What happened?" I told her everything, " I was just asking Dad if I could maybe go outside by myself and do stuff and have an actual life! But he just says the same damn shit he always says, ' Oh why cherie, you can't go outside. The world is MUCH too dangerous. There are criminals, and thieves that will hurt you at any given chance. You must stay here, where I can protect you from people like the Coopers.' First of all, my dad doesn't even know them! So why does he think they are such bad people and why keep me in this room and why shut me out from everything UGHHH!!!" Tears started to pour out of my eyes. Marina quickly got a hankerchief and wiped my tears away. She then hugged me and comforted, " Milady, I'm so sorry." I reassured her "It's ok, Marina. It's not your fault my dad is an asshole." Marina sighed and spoke. "Please Milady, don't call him that. I'm sure there is a good reason for what he is doing. He is your father after all, maybe the Coopers are not the best people….who knows?" I rolled my eyes and protested. "OR he could be totally wrong…..like he always is." Marina then walked back to the tray on the table and tidied up my room. I sighed then inquired. "Marina? Do you ever think that my life will change? Do you think that I will ever get out of this place and away from my father?" Marina shrugged her shoulders and spoke. " Maybe. You never do know.. life is funny that way Milady haha." I couldn't help but smile, even though I knew the truth in my heart as I gazed out at the Paris city in the distance.

Sly put on his suit and grabbed his cane. Tonight was the big night, the night that he would steal the cane from that museum he had been casing. Murray spoke excitedly. "I can not believe we are doing guys! I have been dying to kick some ass haha!" Sly smiled. " I feel ya, buddy. I have been wanting to pull a heist for months." Bentley spoke up. " Alright you guys, do you know the plan? Does everybody know where they have to go, there aren't gonna be ANY second chances if we fail this..." Sly laughed. " Don't worry Bentley, we've got this. Who do you think we are? Amateurs?" Bentley rolled his eyes. " Very funny, Sly. You'll laugh now, but when something ACTUALLY goes wrong you all are gonna panic and have no idea what to do." Sly then spoke up and assured Bentley. " Don't worry pal. Me and Murray are fully aware." Bentley then spoke. " Alright guys, let's do this."

Sly jumped up onto the rooftop and started taking out some of the guards. He was surprised by the amount of guards that were by the museum tonight. He hadn't expected such a high amount of security. He then used the cover of darkness and hid behind some of the building rafters. He knocked out the guards patrolling the rooftop window and then pick pocketed the key from them. Sly then spoke into his binocucom. " Alright guys I got the key, can one of you guys take out the security lazers?" Murray then piped up. "I'm on it, Sly!"

Murray was on the ground level outside of the museum. He was making his way towards the power circuit only to find a single guard by it. Murray asked, " Aww what's wrong short stuff? You scared?" Murray didn't notice however, that a bunch of guards then showed up and started to topple him mercilessly. Murray then found his strength and pummeled all of the guards with his powerful punches and kicks. He then exclaimed," YEAHHHH BABY THAT IS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT!" Sly spoke into the bincucom," Uhh Murray, you ok down there??" Murray replied confidently, " NEVER BEEN BETTER SLY!" Murray then punched the security power circuit breaker, breaking it. Bentley then piped up," Alright, Sly you are ready to go, grab the dagger and let's get out of here."

Sly roped himself down into the museum and grabbed the dagger. Then suddenly the door opened and a very angry woman came bursting through it with a gun. The woman yelled. " Cooper, you no good, lying thief! I am going to LOCK YOU AWAY FOR GOOD!" Sly then taunted," Sorry, Uhhhh I'll call you, haha bye!" Sly dodged the bullets coming from her gun and then climbed back onto the rooftop. He then spoke into the binocucom," Hi there, I would like to request a ride?" Bentley replied. " Cute, Sly. Now get the hell down here before they catch you." The security choppers then shined their light on him while he dropped down to the ground and ran. He then jumped on top of the Cooper van and yelled. " I'm here! Let's go guys!" Murray then hit the gas and drove away from the security vehicles as fast as he could. They then got stuck in a dead end and Sly finally was able to get into the car. Sly then asked," Uhh not to be annoying Bentley, but we are kind of surrounded. What do we do now??" Bentley pointed to the time warper," Don't worry Sly, just put the dagger in the receptacle and we will be able to go back into that time period, thus getting away from the guards." Sly did as Bentley said. Bentley then said," Alright Murray, whenever you are ready to punch the gas." Murray laughed. " HAHA I WAS BORN READY BENTLEY." Murray then punched the gas with all his strength and they all screamed as they were literally thrown back into time.


	2. 2 (03-24 15:43:32)

Emma's POV:

I heard my father yelling downstairs. I wondered what had happened. I figured it would be best if I had just kept myself out of the whole situation and stayed in my room. However, my curiousity got the better of me though, and I crept outside of my room and into the hallway. I then leaned by the stairs and listened intently. I then heard my father's voice scolding one of his soliders. "You idiots! What do you mean he STOLE something?! Why didn't you stop him?" The guards were nervously trying to explain. "S-sir we did everything we could, we just couldn't catch him. He was too fast and someone disabled the security grids." My eyes widnened. Cooper had stole something from dad's museum? Huh. Interesting. I wonder what this Cooper guy is really like. My father then sighed and spoke with a much calmer voice. "I suppose there is nothing we can do about it now. That insufferable rat and his friends are probably heading towards one of the locations as of this moment. Return to your positions and notify me if anything else happens." The guards then walked out of the room quietly. My father then got up and started to walk towards the stairs. Hearing his footsteps I ran back to my room and shut the door gently. I then climbed into my bed and pretended I was sleeping. I hear his foosteps stop right in front of my doorstep. I was a little anxious, but I stayed silent. I then heard the door open. My father gazed into the room for a few moments, and then quietly shut the door.

I then put the covers off of me and sat up on top of my bed. I tried to process through my head what the hell had just happened. Cooper had stole something from my dad's museum. Why? And what did my father mean when he had said that Cooper was going to one of the "locations". I couldn't sleep, I had so many questions racing through my mind at the moment. I didn't know what to do. I then figured that since it was 1 am, I wasn't going to get any answers soon so I put my headphones in and listened to some music. Music always made me feel better when I was upset or not feeling great. I want to talk to Marina, but she is probably sleeping right now in the servants quarters. After an hour or two my eyes started to give in to sleep and I closed my eyes.

I woke up and checked my clock, it was 9:30 in the morning. I groaned. I hated getting up in the morning no matter what time it was. I sat in my bed for 20 minutes, trying to get myself awake. I then got hungry, so I put on some casual clothes a purple shirt and some sweatpants and walked downstairs. Dad usually was at work for most of the night and evening, which meant that he was at home for most of the day. So him and I would always have breakfast together. I made it downstairs and walked to the kitchen. There I saw my father reading the newspaper and Marina was cooking some toast and croissants. Marina then greeted me, " Good morning, Milady! Would you like me to whip you up something to eat? Crepes, maybe? " I replied,"Yea, that sounds good. Thanks, Marina." I sat down on one of the chairs at the table. My father noticed me and smiled. He then spoke," Bonjour, cherie. How did you sleep?" I nodded, " I slept okay, dad." He looked relieved. " I'm happy to hear that, dear. There actually is something I wanted to talk with you about though." I got anxious. Usually, whenever my father said that he wanted to talk to me about something alone was when I was in trouble or he was worried. Marina then handed me my crepes with strawberries and cream (my favorite) and exclaimed," Here you go milady."I then spoke, grateful for her interruption. My father then spoke again to Marina," Marina could you leave us for a moment, please? I must talk with Emma, privately." Marina replied nervously," Oh y-yes sir. Of course." She then curtsied and left the room, giving me one last look of sympathy before she left as if to say ' good luck'.

My father then started. "Now then, I have tried to keep this away from you for the longest time, but I feel that now you are old enough and ready to start learning the family business." I was happy I was not in trouble, but that was quickly replaced by the dread I had of having to do something I didn't want to do. He continued," The le paradox family line has been around for generations, and each family member has been given this as a rite of passage." He then put a green/gold pocket watch with fancy engravings on it into my hands. The thing looked like it came from the Victorian era, and yet it still worked. " I now give this to you, my daughter, as a symbol of the responsibility that you have and your duty to this family." I didn't really care. I never care about the family business or his stupid name. All I wanted was to be free. I figured though, that maybe I could use this to my advantage. Maybe he will finally listen to me now about going outside, and maybe things might ACTUALLY change," I...uh...thanks, dad. So does this mean I'm gonna be able to do more stuff?" father chuckled. " No, my little rose. You are still so very young." I then spoke again. "Well, can I at least go out on my own now?" My father thought for a moment. Then he replied," No." I rolled my eyes and pouted. He always did this shit. But I wasn't going to give up so easily. I stood up and yelled at him," IT'S NOT FAIR. YOU GET TO DO WHATEVER YOU WANT AND I DON'T! YOU NEVER LET ME DO ANYTHING!" My father looked at me and calmly said," Sweetheart, there is nothing exciting out there. You have everything you could possibly want here, no?" I pouted and stomped my foot on the ground, incredibly pissed now. My father glared at me and warned me, " Cherie, if you keep this up I am not going to give you anything and I will ground you for 2 weeks." I didn't care, I was going to speak my mind until I got what I wanted. "I WANT TO GO. I WANT TO HAVE THE THINGS THAT YOU HAVE. I DESERVE IT! I AM JUST AS IMPORTANT AS YOU! I AM THE HEIR TO THE FAMILY LINE!" My father then stood up and scolded me harshly. " Then WHY don't you act like it, Emma?" I then ran out of the room and slammed the door. I then saw a mirror as I passed by and and punched it, shattering it into pieces in my anger.


	3. Chapter 3

(A/N): Hi guys. So let's talk about Emma. Emma is 16 years old. She is a fox with long wavy brown hair and green eyes. She doesn't look anything like her dad, really. Her mother was also a fox and she passed away when Emma was very young. Emma's favorite color is pink, so most of the clothes that she wears have a pink shade. The outfit she wears most is a short sleeved pink shirt and some black pants. Usually she is a kind and sweet person, but very childish.

Alright so basically Emma has no idea about her dad's criminal background as of now. She thinks it is dealing with running the museum and stuff since that is where he works.

The direction I am trying to go with this is that later on in the story, Emma is gonna shortly find out about her Dad's criminal history and she is gonna be really conflicted and worried. Her dad is gonna kind of force her to help out the other criminals take down Cooper. She is not ok with dad just going apeshit and killing the whole Cooper family but she doesnt know how to stop him until she meets the gang. Murray Bentley and Sly are gonna become her closest friends. She is also gonna be mad that her father is wanting to kill Sly, because he is her friend. So she is gonna rebel. Her dad and the other criminals are also gonna be super pissed at her and try to get her back any chance they can.

This is my first time doing one of these things so I hope that answers your questions. Bye!

Emma's PoV:

I was crying into my pillow. The tears didn't seem to stop. It wasn't fair. Father gets to do WHATEVER he wants, and yet I am stuck here...alone. If he could just listen to me for once, then I would be happy. If he could just listen to my feelings and thoughts for once, then I would be content. But nooooo, all he cares about is his stupid museum and work. He never cares about how I feel! I'm just expected to want what he wants for me. What is so bad about this Cooper guy anyways? I knew he was a thief. Father had told me that much. However, I don't have any idea what he looks like or acts like. I wondered. Perhaps he has a hood or maybe he is shrouded with a black cape to help him blend into the night, like Batman. Maybe he has a super deep voice hehe. Oh the possibilities were endless. The more I thought about it, the more curious I grew until finally I knew, that I absolutely HAD to find out what this Cooper guy really looked like and what he even is like. But...how? There is no way father is gonna let me out of here.

And then I heard a knock on the door. I immediately wiped the tears off of my face and asked," Who is it?" The voice answered back, "Sweetheart, can I come in? I need to speak with you." I groaned. Ugh. It was dad. Hadn't he done enough to me today?! So I tried to shoo him off, " Go away dad." My dad replied back in an annoyed voice " Emma, stop it. Open this door right now." I then got up off of my bed and went to the door and spoke, " Or what?? You'll ground me? Go ahead Dad, I don't care. I'm never getting out of here anyways." My dad sighed and asked,"Why must you be so difficult, cherie? I just want to talk to you." I rolled my eyes and spoke," Me? Difficult? You are the one that always says no to me whenever I want to go outside." My father groaned. I could tell he was getting irritated. He spoke again, " Emma open the door NOW." I opened the door. My father then walked in and spoke," See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" I rolled my eyes again and complained," What do you want, dad?" I went to go sit on my bed as my father continued to stand. He started, " I wanted to continue our conversation from downstairs which you so rudely interrupted with your little temper tantrum." I groaned. My father continued. "I want you to come learn the family business with me. I am going on a little, how do you say, 'trip' with some friends that I would like for you to meet." My eyes widened. I spoke," W-wait a minute...are you saying that you want me to come with you to work??" My father then nodded. I spoke again," This means I will be able to get out of here then...right?" My father then responded," For the time being." I smiled. Oh my god, I am finally gonna do something exciting? Well...maybe not exciting, but different! I am finally gonna get out of here! I then ran up to him and hugged him. I said, " Thankyouthankyouthankyou so much dad! I promise I will be good!" My father smiled and spoke," I have no doubt, my dear." I then spoke," When do we start??" My father replied," Tomorrow night." I groaned. I am gonna have to wait the whole day?! Ugh. I suppose since I have waited for years to get out of here, a day won't be so bad. My father spoke," You should get some sleep. I will see you tomorrow, cherie." And with that my father left and shut my door.

I jumped into bed and squealed happily. I can't believe that just happened! I did now feel bad for fighting with him, knowing now that he was trying to get me to come with him to work the entire time. I will finally get to see maybe some good art and stuff I suppose. Which is great! Better than sitting in here. I snuggled myself in my blankets and smiled. Tomorrow was gonna be awesome. I then closed my eyes and went to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Emma's PoV:

I was anxiously waiting for my father to come down the stairs. I was so excited but a little nervous at the same time. Who were these friends that dad was talking about? I hope they are nice. They are probably old rich people just like my dad. Marina walked over to me carrying my bags of necessities. She put them down on the floor and spoke,"I am really gonna miss you Emma. Who am I gonna serve while you are gone?" I giggled and spoke," I'll miss you too. But don't worry, I 'll be back before you know it!" I then pulled her into a hug.

I then heard my father's footsteps come from the top of the stairs. He was wearing the usually stuff he wore, green turtleneck and some black pants. He saw me at the bottom and spoke," All set, dear?" I nodded. He walked down the stairs to the bottom. He then checked his watch and spoke," Well, we should be going now. I don't want to keep them all waiting." I picked up my bags and walked besides my father to the front door. My father opened the door and walked out. As I stood at the door I waved goodbye to Marina. She smiled and waved back. I then walked out the door.

I closed the door behind me and took it all in. The city in the evening looked so beautiful. It was so nice to finally be outside to experience it all. My father called to me from inside the car in our driveway," Emma!" I responded while running towards the car," Coming, dad!" I put my bags in the car and got into the passenger seat. My father then pulled out of the driveway and drove.

I stared out the window. The city looked so beautiful at night. The lights that adorned every passing building mesmerized me. Many people were walking around on the sidewalks laughing and talking. It was so nice to see them up closer for once, and not just from my window. I was a little sad that I couldn't explore the city more, but I was grateful that father was letting me come with him outside for once.

When we had arrived at the museum there were weird looking guards with masks standing in front of the door in front of the building. They low key freaked me out, so I tried my best not to pay attention to them too much. My father got out of the car and I opened the door on my side. I then went to the backseat door to grab my bags but was stopped by one of the guards. I was confused. My father then spoke,"The guards will take care of that, dear." I then walked up the stairs. I walked beside my father as the guards carrying my bags followed us into the museum. I gazed at all of the art and relics that passed us by as I walked with him. They were all very beautiful. My favorite had to have been the painting of a green windy meadow by the beach. It made me feel so calm and relaxed just by looking at it.

We eventually made it to a door at the end of the long hallway, and my father put his hand on the handle. Before he did he spoke to me," Now dearest, I want you to be on your BEST behavior. These friends of mine are very important people, and I don't wish for any problems to occur. Do you understand?" I nodded. My father then opened the door.

There were five people in the room all sitting in chairs surrounding a table. The one sitting closest to the entrance was a blonde haired girl with glasses, a red bandanna on her head, and a yellow jumpsuit. She looked like the youngest girl in the room, besides me. I blushed a little. She looked really pretty. The man sitting next to her wore a black jumpsuit with yellow stripes on it and had swords on his back. He was smoking a cigar. He seemed to be Spanish as he was currently speaking with a Spanish accent to the man next to him. Sitting next to him was a heavy set man with a purple jumpsuit with yellow stripes. He had a crown and a scepter and was currently laughing about something the Spanish man had said. Then I noticed a short russian man sitting across from the blonde girl and wearing a western cowboy outfit with a hat. Finally a middle aged British woman with fuschia glasses and a fuschia coat was sitting next to the short man. I was really confused.These weren't the type of people I was expecting. These people literally looked like either they were gonna exercise or were going to a Halloween party. It was funny. Why was my dad working with these people?

All of the people looked at my father and I with their full attention as we entered the room. My father then spoke," Greetings my friends! As you all know, this is my daughter, Emma. She shall be joining us." Everyone looked at me. I instantly felt anxious. I never liked being the center of attention with anything. Then the lady with the fuschia coat got up from her chair and walked up to me and my father. She then spoke excitedly to my father," Hello Cyrille! I am pleased to let you know that everything is ready to go as planned in my location." Then she looked at me and smiled."And you must be Emma! Oh my goodness, it is truly a pleasure to finally meet you darling. Your father has told me sooooo much about you!" I backed away from her and went behind my father. I was a little startled. I didn't know what to do. My father noticed this and chuckled. He then spoke to the woman,"Ah, don't mind her, dear. She is not used to such attention from so many people." He then looked to me and spoke," Cherie, this is Mrs. Decibel. She is one of my friends." I spoke softly to the woman in front of me,"H-hello, Mrs. It's nice to meet you." Mrs Decibel giggled. "Oh my, aren't you just adorable!" My father then introduced each member to me. He spoke," This is Penelope. My professional technician, and El Jefe, Grizz, and Toothpick." These were really weird nicknames, but I didn't pay any mind to it for the moment. I said hello to them. They said hello back.

My father then started to talk about what they were going to do. I took the seat next to the blonde girl. She seemed so nice and friendly. Maybe we could be friends! I should talk to her. I whispered," Hey, I like your hair." She looked at me and smiled. She then whispered back,"Hi, thanks. I like your shirt." I lightly blushed again.

My father started," As you all know, you each are going to be sent to your specific locations in time. Thanks to the time machine our friend Penelope was so kind to make for us we can now proceed with our plan to exterminate those Coopers once and for all! You each are to find that Cooper of that time, and grab his cane. When you have acquired their cane you shall bring it to me. If any of those Cooper rats from the future come to meddle with your plans you must stop them at all costs!" All of the people, except me, nodded in agreement.

Wait. HOLD ON.What the fuck? Did he just say that she built a TIME MACHINE??? I know my dad didn't like the Coopers but MURDER them and STEAL their canes?! This seemed so wrong. I don't care if Cooper is a bad person or not, I am NOT killing anyone or stealing from them. Also I just realized, that black guy with the purple jumpsuit looked kind of familiar. I had seen his face in the news once, for stealing art.

Then my heart froze.

WAIT. Are ALL of these people criminals?? Oh. My. God. Why is dad working with criminals?! I need answers.

I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't even notice that my father was done talking. I didn't even listen to anything else that he had said. I was speechless. Do I talk to him about it? Do I even want to ask? My father made his way towards me and put his hand on my shoulder. He then spoke,"Are you feeling alright, cherie? You have been very quiet." I looked up at him and then spoke," Dad... what is going on? Why are you working with...criminals? Aren't they bad people? Does that mean you are a bad person? Why do you want to kill the Coopers? Why-" My father cut me off," Sweetheart, one question at a time. Please." I apologized and took a breath in and out. I started again. "Dad...are you are criminal?" My father was silent. He then put my hands in his and started to speak,"Emma, do you remember what I told you about your grandfather?" I nodded. My father had told me when I was little that grandpa had been killed by Cooper when he was trying to do a heist. I had always longed to meet him. He continued," I never met my father, because of...them. The Cooper family has TORMENTED our family for generations. I went to jail, yes that much is true. BUT only because I had a poor education of the family business. I only went to jail, because I was foolish and unexperienced. When I got released from jail, your mother gave birth to you. I swore from then on that I would never let you grow up without a father. That is why I did this. I did everything... for you. I never wanted the Cooper family to come after me and you like they did to my father. I wanted you to have a better life than I did, cherie. That is why we will destroy them all, so that they will never hurt us again." I thought for a moment. No matter what my father said to me, I would never be okay with murdering someone. That was for certain. But, I also didn't want to lose my father, he was the only family I had. I spoke," Yea, but murdering their whole family and stealing their canes seems so...wrong, father. Isn't there another way? Can't we, I don't know, just be friends with them instead or talk it out with them?" My father was silent for a moment, and then laughed hysterically. He then spoke again,"Oh my sweet little rose, how naive you are. Men like the Coopers are filthy hoodlums that don't care about reason and 'kindness'. All they want is to take advantage of those less fortunate then them. They deserve this. We have always been treated poorly because of those filthy rats and now it is time for them to pay the price. And after I have acquired all of their canes, we shall be unstoppable!" I frowned. This isn't what I wanted. I couldn't let him do this, but I didn't know what to do exactly. I figured I would just play along with this whole 'death to cooper' thing for now, and then when I finally found Cooper I would get some information from him and figure out what the Coopers REALLY are like. Not knowing really what to reply to father I softly said,"Alright. I'm gonna...er... go. Where would you like me to go actually?" My father then replied," You and I are going to be working together for now. I don't want to burden you with taking care of a Cooper. You can observe the others while they work if you wish." I nodded. I will know more soon enough, it will just be a matter of time. I just have to be patient. For how long, though?


	5. Chapter 5

Sly's PoV:

Sly, Murray, and Bentley arrived in Feudal Japan expecting a peaceful quiet little village. Instead they found a ton of big scary guards with weapons and the whole village was being patrolled like a military fortress. The three of them all knew that they needed to find Sly's ancestor, Rioichi, but they had literally no freaking idea where he even was. So, Sly spied around. He eavesdropped on some guards talking and eventually found out that Rioichi was currently locked up in a prison. He was charged with apparently trying to give the shogun food poisoning with his sushi and was sentenced to death. Before they could do anything else, the three of them knew they need to get Rioichi the hell out of that prison as soon as possible.

Sly was perched on top of one of the rooftops. He currently was overlooking the prison where Rioichi was being held in. He saw two guards standing in front of the entrance. He then flipped open his bincucom. He spoke," Hey Bentley, I'm here but I have no idea how I am gonna get inside that prison. There is literally no other way to get into the prison other than the front entrance. Maybe if I ask them nicely they will let me in? What do you think, Bentley? Pure genius?" Bentley replied,"Yes, Sly, brilliant. I'm sure they will just absolutely LOVE seeing your face over there." Sly laughed. Bentley continued," In all seriousness, you are gonna need a disguise, Sly. Grab one of the guard's armor suits and wear it when you go to the front gate." Sly replied," I'm on it, pal."

Sly was on the ground level sneaking past the guards. He was trying to find a guard who's armor he would actually fit into. Then he finally found the perfect guard and knocked him out with his cane. He dragged him into an alley way and took off his armor. He then put on the armor and walked back out to the entrance of the prison. The two guards looked down at him and questioned," What do you want? Go away peasant, only officials are allowed entry!" Sly then replied," Excuse me?? I am general Hakoda!"The guards shook their heads. Sly replied scolding them,"Why I have been a general ever since you were a squealing piglet!" The guards replied," You don't look familiar to us sir." Sly scoffed," With just one word I could have you all punished for not letting me in, but I don't think you two want that, do you?" The guards rapidly shook their heads 'no' and unlocked the doors to prison. Once the doors closed he switched back into his main outfit and opened his binocucom. Sly spoke," Alright Bentley I'm in. Where's Rioichi?" Bentley replied,"Ok, Rioichi is being held in the basement of the prison. You have to be careful when you actually enter the hallway to get to him though. There are really big flamethrowers all around that will fry you if you aren't careful enough. Luckily, that armor that you have will be able to deflect the flames from touching your skin, so you can use that. Also, Rioichi's cage is not actually on the ground, so you are gonna have to to use your mid air jump to get up there." Sly replied,"Got it, I will talk to you when I'm done."

Sly finally made it to the hallway where Riochi was being kept. Just like Bentley had warned, there were about a dozen dragon statues that blew scalding hot fire at the walkway non stop when he entered. Sly then put on his armor and used the shield to volley the fire back at the statues, destroying them. When he took out all of the statues he then walked up to the end of the hallway and looked up. He saw the cage, hanging from chains with Rioichi inside. He whispered," Hey Rioichi! Would you like to get out of that cage?" Rioichi looked down from inside the cage and rolled his eyes. He then replied,"You guards make very poor jokes." Sly then switched back into his regular outfit and jumped onto the cage. Sly began to explain," Rioichi my name is Sly Cooper. I am your relative...from the future. I'm here to rescue you." Rioichi thought for a moment, and then replied,"Only a true Cooper would have made it this far. I believe you." Sly then picked the lock on the cage door and opened it. Rioichi and Sly then both jumped back down onto the platform. All of a sudden the platform started to shake. Rioichi and Sly then ran as fast as they could to the end of the hallway as the whole pathway collapsed behind them.

When Sly finally brought back Rioichi to the hideout, he started to explain what had went down. This guy named El Jefe had taken over the whole village and was the one who had arrested him. Bentley tried searching his profile up on his computer. Apparently the guy was a mercenary criminal who had taken over many countries for the highest bidder. When the authorities closed in, he conveniently vanished and they never found him. Until now, that is.

We obviously needed to stop him, but we didn't know where to start really. We had gotten Rioichi, but we weren't sure what to do next. We then figured we should probably go and try to get into El Jefe's fortress. In order to do that, they needed to find out how exactly you could enter.

Emma's Pov:

I was soo bored. I went to see if any of dad's other friends were doing anything interesting. So, I chose Feudal Japan, since the other ones just seemed to have things I didn't like. Arabia and the Western town were too dry and hot, the tundra was soo freaking cold, and the medieval one was very boring to me. Japan however had a pleasant climate and was quite beautiful to look be in. I looked up at El Jefe. He noticed and sighed, very annoyed. "Don't you have something to do, kid?" I then replied," Can I go and walk around? I'm bored." El Jefe spoke," Whatever, but you must stay near the guards. If something happened to you out there, your father would murder me. Literally." I nodded. I really didn't want the guards following me every five seconds though, so I figured I would ditch them after I got out of the fortress.

I put on a black hood to hide myself and went out of the fortress. The village was truly beautiful, minus the really huge amount of guards surrounding every building. I saw a gazebo surrounded by cherry blossom trees and decided to make my way over there.

Suddenly, I saw a shadow. I spun my head around and saw a young man with a cane beside him trying to sneak up behind me. I gasped and begged," Please sir, I don't have any money!" The man stared at me for a moment and then asked," Who...are you? You don't look like a native, but you also dont look like you are a guard." I responded," How about you tell me who you are first since YOU decided to sneak up on me." The young man came closer to me and whispered," My name is Sly Cooper. I am a thief." I was stunned. I tried to speak," W-wait...you must be joking." Sly shook his head and confirmed," Nope. This is the real deal." I stammered back," But you look nice and you aren't ugly at all?" Sly laughed, and spoke," I don't think so, babe. Who told you that?" I looked to the side and spoke," My father." Sly then replied," Well, your father has obviously never met a real Cooper before, I can tell you that much, haha." I looked at him and spoke," Are you really a bad person? My dad says you murder people and you only care about stealing things." Sly replied,"Well if I HAVE to kill someone, I would. But, I really like to use it as a last resort. Also, stealing is a tradition in my family, yes. But I only steal from other thieves." I couldn't believe it. First my dad worked with criminals, now I find out Cooper is actually NOT the person I thought he was?? This was crazy. Sly then looked at me and spoke," So.. what are you doing here?" I sighed and spoke," I'm under the supervision of one of my dad's friends. His name is El Jefe. I was bored, so I figured I would go out and explore for a bit." Sly's eyes narrowed and he spoke," So you are technically working for the bad guys. Does this mean you hate me too? Are you gonna steal my cane?" I shook my head. " Not at all! I was just so curious about who you actually were. I had heard your name being talked about by my father, his fruends, guards..exc saying that you were a filthy gutter rat. For basically my whole entire life I have been told you were not a person I should be hanging out with. In fact, the whole reason why my father never let me out of his sight that much was because of you. I never knew what to believe to be honest." Sly spoke,"I'm sorry you had to go through that. I can assure you that while I'm not a goody two shoes, I do have a good heart. I would never do half of the things your dad claimed I do, I swear. If that makes you feel any better." I thought for a moment. Have I really been brainwashed my entire life? Has EVERYTHING I ever knew, been a lie? I then figured the only way I was ever going to truly be free and get some answers, was if I stayed with Cooper. He seemed trustworthy and friendly enough. I then spoke," Sly? I know we just met, and I will totally not judge you or get mad if you say no to this, but...could I join you?" Sly's eyes widened. He looked shocked, and then spoke," Y-you want to...help me? Why?" I spoke," I have just found out that my dad basically lied to me my whole entire life. He wants to kill you and your ancestors, and I don't think that is ok at ALL. I want to know more about you and your family too, so I figured this was the only way I would get what I truly wanted." Sly replied," You want freedom, I understand that. I am also not one to turn down any help I can get, so, welcome aboard. Me and my pals don't exactly know what is going on here ourselves, but with you joining us...we may have an advantage." He held out his hand. I looked at him questioningly. He laughed softly," Do you trust me?" I thought for a moment, then nodded and put my hand into his. He then led me to his hideout and for the first time in forever, I regretted nothing.


	6. Chapter 6

Emma's PoV:

When we entered the hideout I noticed three other people were present in the room. A man with a blue hood on his head, a heavyset guy eating a bowl of rice, and a short man with a hat and glasses in a wheelchair. They all immediately looked at me with suspicion. I stayed silent, a bit nervous. I didn't know what to do. The short guy with the glasses then broke the silence and asked Sly in a skeptical tone,"Sly, who is this?" Sly then replied reassuringly," Bentley, this is Emma." I looked at Bentley and put my hand out in attempt to shake his hand. I spoke," It is nice to meet you, Bentley." Bentley looked at me suspiciously and then spoke again to Sly,"Sly can I speak to you in private for a moment?" Sly then nodded and he and Bentley went to the back room. Um, rude. All I did was say hi to him. The heavyset man then spoke up to me,"Don't worry about Bentley, he always takes a while to warm up to new people. Name's Murray, by the way." Murray then put out his hand and I shook it gently. I then noticed the blue hooded man staring at a piece of paper. I then asked Murray," So...uh, what's his name?" Murray then explained," Oh that's Rioichi, he is Sly's ancestor from this area." I looked at him again, and tried speaking to him," Uh, hello Rioichi. My name is Emma, it's nice to meet you." Rioichi looked at me and bowed. He then spoke," It is nice to meet you too, Emma." Murray then piped up," So Emma, are you gonna join us? How did you meet Sly?" I then started to explain the story to him, all the while wondering what Sly and Bentley were talking about in the back room about.

Sly's Pov:

Bentley was very annoyed. He spoke in an irritated tone,"Why did you bring her here? Did you make sure guards didn't follow you back?" I nodded and then spoke," Yes, yes everything was fine, Bentley." Bentley sighed and then spoke again," Sly, are you sure this girl is safe to be around? You said she was with El Jefe, can you REALLY trust her? This is not the time to be too trustful, Sly. She could be using us. One mistake and your family could be wiped out forever." I rolled my eyes and spoke," Ben, first of all, chill. Second of all, she seemed very nice and genuine. All she wanted was freedom from her father and not being told to do things she didn't want to do. So I figured, maybe she would be happier with us. I don't know. Besides, I wasn't just gonna abandon her alone like that, you know that is not how I am, Benny." Bentley raised his eyebrow and asked," Who is her father, anyways?" I shrugged my shoulders. Bentley then thought for a moment and spoke again," Ugh...fine, she can stay, but I swear to god the moment she does anything even remotely suspicious, I will NOT hesitate." Sly put his hand on Bentley's shoulder and spoke,"Thanks, Ben. I promise, you won't regret this pal." We then exited the room and went back out to the main room.

Emma's PoV:

Murray had an excited look on his face and as he spoke,"WAIT YOU LIKE STRAWBERRY CREPES TOO?!" I laughed and nodded. Murray then replied,"Strawberry is my favorite flavor EVER, and I had thought I would never find a fellow lover of strawberries! Ooo how about cookies?" I replied,"Hmm, I would have to say peanut butter or sugar cookies. I also love to bake." Murray piped up,"That is so cool! I have actually never baked anything before, but maybe you could teach me sometime!" We were so deep into our conversation that we didn't even notice Sly and Bentley coming back in til Bentley spoke up,"Well, it seems like you two are getting along just fine." I looked behind me and saw them both. I then tried to speak to Bentley again," Bentley? I'm sorry if I did anything to offend you, I really didn't mean any harm. I don't want to hurt anyone...I'm not anything like El Jefe or the others." Sly and Bentley looked at each other. Bentley then looked back at me and questioned," What do you mean by...others? And while we are on this topic, who is your father anyways?" I sighed and spoke,"My father is Le paradox, and el Jefe is not the only one he has sent to kill your family, Sly. Sorry." Sly then thought for a moment, and then replied," Le paradox...that name sounds familiar...where have we heard that?" Bentley answered," He was the one who owned the museum we stole that dagger from. He was a billionaire art collector, so why is he trying to kill you and your family like this?" I shrugged and spoke," I have no idea. I'm just as clueless as you guys are to be completely honest.My father never tells me anything, and he never listens to me either. He treats me like a child and I am sick of it. He also wanted me to help his friends, such as El Jefe, to capture and kill your ancestors. I figured by joining you guys I would avoid having to do any of that and find out more about your family, Sly." Sly nodded, and spoke,"Fair enough. The real objective now is that we have to stop El Jefe. Which means we have to get Rioichi his sushi shop back in order for him to get his canes so he can help us." Bentley,Murray, and Rioichi nodded. I looked at Bentley and asked," Is there anything you would like me to do to help?" Sly then spoke up," You can hang with me Emma. I don't mind." Bentley then asked," You got any experience with fighting or stealing?" I shrugged my shoulders, and spoke," I have been pretty sheltered for most of my life, so no. However, I am good at throwing things." Bentley then gave me two daggers and spoke," Try throwing these at that target over there and try to get as close to the middle as you can." I took a breathe in, trying to calibrate my arm in a comfortable position. I aimed and then threw the daggers with all my strength at the target. Sly, Murray, Bentley, and Rioichi all gasped simultaneously. I then looked at the target, and saw what they were gasping at. I had thrown the daggers perfectly in the middle of the target. Bentley then remarked,"Wow. I wasn't expecting THAT." Sly then replied,"Well,guess we got a dagger thrower over here haha. Funny, I would have never thought you to be good at throwing daggers, Emma. It is not exactly a 'common' ability." I suppose all those tantrums of me in the past trying to throw things at my father worked out in the end. Bentley then gave me a pouch filled with throwing daggers and closed it. He then spoke,"Use them wisely." I nodded. Then we all went out of the hideout to proceed with the mission.

El Jefe's PoV:

Where was that damn child?! I told that little brat to stay with the fucking guards. I knew I shouldn't have let her out of my sight. Ugh, the boss is not going to like this. Thank god he is not here now. I walked out of my fortress into the village and sighed. That little shit could be ANYWHERE and the next time the boss is scheduled to be back here is tomorrow. Fuck. First, Rioichi escapes out of prison, then I lose the boss's daughter. I knew I needed to find her before the boss found out she was gone, but I had no idea where to look. That child could be anywhere or half way into another country. I smoked my cigar and then looked at the sushi house and spoke to the guards outside," No one gets in or out, you hear me? I don't want anymore problems, and if you see Rioichi or the girl, notify me at once." I then walked back to my fortress. When I find that little brat I am going to make her wish she was never even BORN!


	7. Chapter 7

Emma's PoV:

Me and Sly hid on the rooftop of one of the buildings. Sly then opened a little device from his pocket and started talking into it. I had never seen such an object before, it looked like binoculars but he was talking into it...which was odd. I then asked him," Hey er...Sly? Why are you talking to your binoculars?" Sly then laughed lightheartedly at my confusion and then explained," This is a binocucom. It is how I can talk to Bentley and Murray from far away." Oh. I then replied," So...it is basically a phone." Sly then corrected," A phone AND binoculars combined!" I laughed a little. I knew I had just met them all and yet I feel so much...at home. I feel so comfortable with them all and I finally feel happy and that I belong for once. When I was with father, I had always felt that there was something missing. A certain puzzle piece just wasn't there, and now I know what that puzzle piece was. It was the Coopers and my feelings for them all. I had never hated them like father had, even though I had been told of all the 'barbaric' things that they had done. In my heart I had always known something was off with that whole Cooper hatred, and now I knew why. Was this my destiny? To be with the Coopers...to be with Sly? I smiled at the thought. I could definitely live with that. I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard Sly close his binocucom. He then looked towards me and spoke,"Alright, I am gonna go and put on my disguise to distract the guards. Then, Rioichi is gonna go inside and try to unlock everything. You can go inside and help him if you'd like. Or you could stay with me. I spoke," I am gonna go help Rioichi. There are probably a lot of mean guards inside, and I don't want Rioichi to get hurt." Sly nodded and I then jumped onto his shield and went up to the window. I then went quietly inside, and lightly tapped Rioichi's shoulder. I then whispered to him,"If anything bad happens, I'm right here Rioichi." He nodded and whispered back," Thank you, Emma. But I do not think I will need much, I am a MASTER ninja, after all." I replied," Alright. I am gonna try and get those keys for you. I should be back soon." Rioichi nodded and spoke," Be careful, Emma."

I snuck around and looked for the guard that had one of Rioichi's keys. I then found the guard sitting with the key in his pocket. I tried to slowly pickpocket the item out of him, but to no avail. He kept on moving every five seconds and I didn't want to get caught. I attempted it again and finally got the key. Thank god. I then put the key in my bag with my daggers and went to go find Rioichi. I saw him taking out the guard that had the second key. When he was done I walked up to him. He noticed me and spoke," Did you get the other key?" I nodded and took the key out of my bag. Rioichi smiled and took the key. He then spoke again," Thank you very much for helping me get the keys, Emma. I'm very grateful for your assistance." I nodded and replied," Not a problem, glad I was able to get the key. Pickpocketing is so much harder than it looks." Rioichi laughed lightheartedly and spoke,"Yes. It is at first. For you to succeed without any proper training is very impressive though." Out of nowhere Murray then came down attached to a rope. However, due to his weight the rope stopped and he just sat still in midair. Rioichi then spoke to him," Murray, be careful. That rope looks quite fragile." Murray then replied confidently," The Murray can do this! Do not fear!" Then the rope suddenly snapped causing Murray to come tumbling down onto the sushi house floor. Bentley spoke into the binocucom,"Well, it looks like we are gonna have to try out your costume a bit earlier than I expected. I hope you remember what we practiced, Murray." I was confused. What was Bentley even talking about? And then I saw Murray standing up a face full of makeup, hair, and a geisha dress.

I couldn't help but laugh. Murray looked aboslutely ridiculous in that freaking outfit. Rioichi looked absolutely confused. Murray tried his best to dance like a geisha and 'flaunt' his assets at them. The soldiers hollered at him and begged him to dance more as they threw yen at his feet.

When Murray finished we went back to the hideout as fast as we could as to not get caught by the guards. We then talked about how we were gonna tackle El Jefe tomorrow. Bentley spoke," Get some good sleep you guys, we have a big day tomorrow, we are not gonna defeat El Jefe with poor sleep." We all then went to our certain rooms in the hideout and went to sleep. Sly slept beside the little window, Murray slept on the couch, Bentley went inside his shell, and Rioichi slept on a hammock. I went to one of the spare rooms and set up for bed. Tomorrow was going to be very big day indeed. This would be the first time I would be facing El Jefe and my father's guards...as part of the Cooper gang. I had to admit even though I seemed alright on the outside, on the inside I was terrified and anxious. I had never disobeyed my father before, til now. I fear his power, I fear what he could do to Murray, Sly, Bentley, and the ancestors. I fear that when he finds out that I, his own flesh and blood, had betrayed him, he will go into a rage and try and hurt them even more. All these thoughts raced in my mind, preventing me from getting any sleep. Figuring I was not gonna be able to sleep anytime soon, I walked out of my room and went downstairs. Everyone had been sleeping soundly, exhausted from the day's work. Then I saw a figure sitting quietly by the window and looked at it for a moment. I realized after a couple seconds of looking that it was Sly. Wondering what he was doing, I went up to the window and joined him. Sly turned his head towards me and whispered,"Couldn't sleep?" I sighed softly and whispered,"I'm scared, Sly...I am so worried about what might happen tomorrow. I can't stop thinking about all the terrible things that could happen to you and your ancestors. I am also scared about my father hurting you and-" Sly put his finger to my lips and hushed me. He then spoke,"Take it easy, Buttercup. I'm just as nervous as you are, but there is nothing we can do about it as of now except to wait. We just have to trust in Bentley. He has always guided us in the right direction, and he will guide us tomorrow, and in every future mission after." I spoke,"I believe you, Sly. However, none of that erases my anxiety about everything." Sly nodded and replied,"Same. In truth, I have no idea what to expect tomorrow and I low key don't want to know to be honest. El Jefe is a pretty powerful dude, and I'm sure it won't be easy defeating him. However, as a Cooper, I have to do this. I am not gonna like it, but I have to. For my family, for the gang, for myself, and for you." I looked at him, very confused. I then replied," What do you mean...for me? Why am I so important?" Sly spoke," You told me yourself that you wanted to be free from your father and his allies. In order to do that we need to defeat them, starting with El Jefe. Only then, when they are all in prison and locked away, will you truly be free. So, by defeating El Jefe, you will be one step closer to getting your freedom." I looked at him and smiled. I had never felt so understood and cared about by someone in my life, not even by my father. I suddenly grabbed Sly and hugged him tightly. I spoke,"You...would fight for me? I...Thank you, Sly. Thank you for understanding me and helping me. I really appreciate it." Sly smiled and hugged me back. I then sat beside him and stared outside the window again. Sly started to drift into slumber and my eyes grew heavy watching him go to sleep and eventually I succumbed to the lull of sleep.

I was woken up by the piercing sunlight coming in through the window. I squinted my eyes and rubbed them, trying to get them to stay open. Sly was still fast asleep beside me. I then walked into the main room of the hideout in order to see who was awake. Bentley was wide awake, typing away on his computer. Murray was eating a bowl of cereal. Rioichi was trying to make an origami figure out of a piece of paper. Bentley noticed me and greeted me,"Good morning, Emma. How did you sleep?" I looked at him and spoke," I slept pretty well. How about you guys?" Murray replied," Like a baby." Bentley replied,"I slept ok." Rioichi then spoke,"I was not accustomed to your bedding, but I to slept well." My stomach then growled. I looked around, trying to see if there was any food around. Murray then spoke up," We have cereal and some pastries if you like that stuff." I then asked,"Do you guys have any suggestions? I am not really an expert on cereals...in fact I have actually never hd cereal." Murray looked at me with a shocked expression and immediately went to the food cabinet. He then spoke fast and loudly,"How have you NEVER had cereal?! You have to have some of this!" Murray placed a bowl a spoon and a cereal box in front of me. I looked at the name. It said Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Sounded good enough, cinnamon was one of my favorite spices. I spoke,"Alright, I will give it a try." I then pour some milk and cereal into the bowl and put some of it into my mouth.

OH. MY. GOD.

I was in love. Murray looked at me, awaiting my response with anticipation. He then spoke," So? What do you think, pal?" I replied excitedly," It...is...INCREDIBLE! I love it! Thanks for having me try this Murray! Oooh we should try more foods together sometime!" Murray's face lit up, and he then spoke," That sounds like a great idea! Why didn't I think about that? We can be foodie pals!" I then heard a laugh from behind me. I turned my head to see the source of the laugh. It was Sly. Sly walked into the room and spoke,"Sounds like you and Murray are having a grand ol time in here. I have never seen someone other than Murray get so happy about Cinnamon Toast Crunch to be honest." I smiled. Murray then replied,"Well, that's because you aren't a TRUE food connoisseur, Sly. You wouldn't understand the pure joy it is to have good food. Am I right, Emma?" Murray looked over to me. I was currently drinking the milk from the bowl from the leftover cereal. When I finished I then put the bowl down. I then spoke,"What did you guys say?" Bentley then piped up,"Alright you guys, we gotta start talking about the plan for taking down El Jefe. My smile instantly faded. Tasting that wonderful cereal had made me totally almost forget about that...almost.

Me and Sly worked on getting the bridge locks unlocked by the keys we stole from the guards. We all then walked into the bridge, only to be greeted by El Jefe.

El Jefe looked at Murray, Bentley, Rioichi and Sly with a very pissed and irritated expression. He then spoke,"End of the line Coopers!" El Jefe then looked again and noticed me. He spoke again,"You! I have been looking EVERYWHERE for you! Do you have any idea how worried I was?! And WHY are you with the Coopers?! You better have a good explanation for this for me and your father!" I spoke,"I am a part of the Cooper gang now, El Jefe and I'm not going back." El Jefe rolled his eyes," Emma, stop with this rebellious shit. Get over here and go back to the fortress, now." I took a breath in and replied,"No. Fuck you." El Jefe then yelled furiously,"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!" I then replied,"Fuck. You. I am not going back, and I'm not gonna let you hurt the Coopers either!" El Jefe was now shouting," EMMA GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE RIGHT FUCKING NOW SO HELP ME I WILL HAVE THE GUARDS BRING YOU BACK HERE! YOUR FATHER IS HERE RIGHT NOW, AND I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR RUNNING AWAY NONSENSE!"

My heart froze. Father? Here? NOW? Oh no,oh no,oh no. Then that must mean...

And then me and the gang saw it...father's blimp, rising into the air in front of us. My heart was beating so fast. I was so anxious and nervous. It was one thing to do this in front of El Jefe, but my father?? Oof, this was not going to end well. Despite how scared I was, I stood my ground. Sly then held my hand and smiled at me. I smiled back. El Jefe saw this and shouted,"I have had enough of this! GUARDS! BRING HER BACK HERE AND ELIMINATE THE COOPERS!" A bunch of gas mask guards then dropped down from above and started attacking us. I threw a bunch of daggers into their chests, making them fall to the ground instantly. Sly whacked a couple with his cane. Murray punched and Bentley destroyed some guards with his metal arms. Rioichi slipped under the bridge in order to get away and unlock the gate.

Eventually, Me, Murray, Sly, and Bentley finished beating up the gas mask guards with flying colors. Sly then spoke to me," Are you feeling ok?" I smiled at him and spoke," Never been better,pal." Sly smiled at me and spoke to the entire gang,"Come on guys!" We all walked forward towards the end of the bridge.

Rioichi had unlocked the door to get to the other side of the bridge and we all then ran through to the outside. El Jefe then suddenly jumped in front of us and grabbed Rioichi by his neck. He grabbed his cane from him and then flung him onto the ground. Oh no. El Jefe then looked at me and tried to grab me as well, but Sly went in front of me and prevented him from getting hold of any part of me. El Jefe then spoke," Sorry, Cooper. I have to deliver this stick to a NEW owner! haha!" El Jefe then ran away and destroyed the bridge behind him. Sly then put his hand on Rioichi's shoulder and spoke to him," Don't worry Rioichi, I'll get your cane back." I then stopped him and spoke,"I'm coming too! I'm not letting you go inside there yourself, it is TOO dangerous. I need to help you, and don't you dare argue with me about this, Sly." Sly then replied," Alright, come on! Follow me." Me and Sly ran inside the fortress.

When me and Sly opened the door to the fortress we found El Jefe sitting on his throne, petting a pigeon. El Jefe then spoke," Hey Cooper, how do you like my new statue?" Me and him looked up. I remembered this when I had lived here. I thought it was stupid then,and I still thought it was stupid now. Sly then replied,"It looks like a real pigeon magnet." I giggled. Sly always has the best comebacks, I swear. El Jefe, irritated, slapped the pigeon and got up from his chair. He then spoke again," And you! Your father is waiting for you to come back to him. He is not in a good mood right now, and I would advise you to stop this game right now, lest you want to be punished by him." I remained with Sly. El Jefe then spoke," Fine! Be that way! But don't say that I didn't warn you! Also, Cooper I hope you can fly like a pigeon, because that's the only way you are going to catch me!" Sly then spoke," We'll see about that!" Me and him then started climbing up to get to El Jefe.

When we had finally made our way up there, we saw the top of his statue. We then saw El Jefe standing on top of it, gloating. El Jefe then spoke,"How do you like my statue Cooper? Almost as handsome as the real thing!" I rolled my eyes. Jackass. Sly then replied," Yeah, looks big enough to contain your over inflated ego!" I snickered. El Jefe took a puff from his cigar and spoke,irritated," I want you to take a nice long look Cooper. I want you to remember the one who CRUSHED you!" I then spoke," The only one getting crushed today is you, asshole!" El Jefe glared at me. Sly then spoke with me," Looks like you have got nowhere left to run El Jefe, ready to face us now?" El Jefe then laughed," Haha! Sticking up for the family ey Cooper? Too bad you will never see ANY of them again!" Sly then had a really nervous and worried look on his face. El Jefe then spoke again," Oh Cooper! You have climbed SO high! And now, you are gonna FALL! Hahahaha!!" I put a hand on his shoulder and spoke," Sly, don't listen to him. He is just trying to get to you, we are gonna make it, I promise." Sly then looked at me and smiled. I then spoke,"Now let's show that jackass what the Coopers are MADE of!" Sly nodded and spoke,"Agreed. LET'S DO THIS!"

El Jefe was on a wooden ledge near us waiting for us to come to him. As me and Sly climbed on the ropes in order to get to El Jefe, we dodged the fireballs that he threw at us repeatedly. Whenever we got close to him, he would run away. Which anmoyed us both to no end. We finally caught up to him when he sat still on a ledge, meditating. Me and Sly, keeping-our distance, snuck behind him. El Jefe then spoke,"Why are you doing this, Emma? Why betray us! Why betray your father?! YOU LEFT US FOR A PUNY RAT!" I replied yelling back at him,"None of the Coopers deserve what you are doing to them! Also, Sly and his friends love and care about me, unlike YOU or FATHER ever have!!" El Jefe glared at me and spoke,"How DARE you! YOU DISOBEDIENT CHILD! YOU WILL BE PUNISHED FOR THIS!" Sly then replied,"Not while I'm here!" El Jefe then glared at Sly and spoke," You know Cooper, you are starting to annoy me." Sly then replied," Oh don't worry, I have that effect on ALL cowardly crime lords." El Jefe gave him a death stare. He looked super pissed now. Sly then spoke again," El Jefe...hmm...isn't that Spanish for 'big baby'?" El Jefe then yelled," ENOUGH OF THESE STUPID GAMES!"

El Jefe then started fighting with us. He threw fire and lighting constantly at us. I threw daggers at him whenever U found an opening and I also threw daggers at the fireballs that he threw in order to deflect them. Whenever Sly had a fireball thrown at him, he switched into his samurai suit and used his shield to bounce off El Jefe's attack back towards El Jefe. Sly then switched into his regular outfit and whacked him with his cane. After repeating this several times, El Jefe finally gave in. El Jefe in a tired, breathy voice, spoke,"Im...po..ssible." He then fell to the ground, knocked out cold. I cheered," Yes! We did it! Sly, hurry! Grab the cane and let's go! Before guards come!" Sly nodded and attempted to grab the cane. All of a sudden a gas canister was dropped in front of us. I immediately recognized it, and grabbed Sly, running away from it. While holding Sly, we hung from the edge of the platform as the gas mask guards descended towards us, shooting gas pellets.One of the guards tried to grab me, but I pulled away as fast as I could.

Sly then spoke to me," Thanks, buttercup." I nodded and spoke," Anytime, pal. Those things are dangerous." Me and him then poked our heads and looked at what was going on. We saw the gas mask guards grab the cane from El Jefe and ascended back up towards the blimp. As we looked up, we saw a pair of eyes in the windows of the blimp staring straight at us. My heart froze, again. Father. He had seen what I had done, and he didn't look too happy. He looked straight at me with an all too familiar glare. It was the 'you are grounded' glare, he always gave me whenever I got in trouble and I couldn't help but feel nervous that the guards were going to suddenly come back down and try to grab me again. Sly glared at him and held onto my hand tightly. I could tell he was super angry at my father. After a couple of moments, my father had left the window and the guards ascended back onto the ship. As me and Sly went back onto the platform, we grabbed a golden badge that one of the guards had left behind. When we looked back up we saw that the blimp suddenly vanished into thin air.


	8. Chapter 8

Emma's PoV:

We brought El Jefe back to the present and brought him to the police, but it was a minor victory. We failed to get back Rioichi's cane and stop my father at any rate. Which was the main goal of us fighting El Jefe, so in a sense we actually...kinda failed. Crap. BUT, we weren't gonna give up. Bentley was trying to turn on some green glowing thing, because he said it would give us more info about what we had to do next. I was a little confused, but I went along with it, because Bentley was smarter and knew better than I did 99% of the time. After a few minutes of tinkering, a hologram appeared on the transmitter. An eccentric man with a weird accent suddenly started talking," Hey friends! How did y'all do with taking down those lame dirty cane stealers?" I was startled for a moment. This man certainly knew how to make a grandiose first impression. The strange man looked at me and questioned," Ooooh and where did you all find this pretty little thing? Haha." I rolled my eyes and replied," I have a name you know." Dimitri then spoke again," Sorry little gal, it is not everyday that Sly brings pretty little cuties into the gang haha!" Sly, ignoring Dimitri's comment, spoke to him,"Dimitri, where do we go next?" Dimitri then showed us an image of a man in western clothing with a gun. Dimitri then spoke," My friends, you shall be going to the Western town of Cotton Mouth Bluff. The ancestor that is in trouble is named Tennessee Kid Cooper."

I then spoke up," Cotton Mouth Bluff...I think that is where Toothpick is." Bentley and Sly looked at me questioningly. Sly then asked," Who is that? Do you know anything for sure?" I thought for a moment. I had met Penelope, El Jefe and Mrs. Decibel but the others I hadnt really gotten to meet personally. Maybe it was for the better in the end that I hadn't known them. They didnt seem very nice or approachable anyways. I looked at Sly and then nodded. Sly then looked at Bentley and he tried searching up the name on the criminal database on his computer. Not surprisingly, he had found a result on there. Bentley showed me the monitor of his computer and spoke," Does this guy look familiar to you?" I nodded. Yep, that was definitely him alright. He looked even shorter in his muggshot for prison, to be completely honest. Bentley then tried searching for more. He then spoke," Well, he is definitely a criminal all right. He has pulled massive bank robberies in the past among other russian mafia related scandals.

Jesus. I still really can't believe my father was working with these people. I can't believe that my father would do such...terrible things and be okay with working with such horrible people. I truly was sheltered. My whole childhood has been a lie, the man whom I had looked up to my whole life was really the worst person I could possibly look up to. I wanted to cry. I wonder what mother would have thought about this. Oh mother, if only she were here. She would have made everything better, like she always had when I was a little girl. I sighed. What would mother say to me? I was so conflicted. There was a part of me that was happy that I had made a stand and freed myself. But then another part of me just wanted to run into my father's arms and apologize to him for what I had done. We would go home and things would be as they were before. I then realized, however, that things could never be that way again. Not after what I knew now. I had to stop him, no matter what. I may be his daughter, but that doesn't mean that I have to believe his lies. The Coopers are my friends, and I am not going to let anyone hurt them, including him.

Sly waved his hand in front of my face and spoke," Emmy...earth to Emma, are you in there??" I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at him. I spoke,"I'm sorry Sly, I was just...thinking. What were you saying?" Sly then spoke,"We are getting ready to leave. I suggest you buckle up, buttercup. Murray is can be an...er ...aggressive driver." I replied nervously,"Heh...noted."

We all went into the truck. Luckily, the golden sheriff badge that dropped from one of father's guards came from the exact same time as one of Sly's ancestors, Tennessee Kid Cooper. So we didn't need to worry about that little issue. Bentley then placed the badge into the time machine, and we were suddenly sucked into a vortex, traveling through time itself.

I felt like I was going to be sick. When we stepped out of the truck I was so dizzy, I could barely even walk. It was so freaking hot here. I liked heat, but not THIS much heat. Ugh. Bentley noticed me in my nearly fainting state and gave me a cup of water with some pills. He then spoke,"Here, take these. They'll make you feel better in no time." I legit inhaled the pills and drank all of the water in like 5 seconds. I then looked around. Murray was literally eating some of the sand because he was so bored. Sly had picked up a flyer that had Tennessee's picture on it. Sly was frowning though. I walked over to him to see the picture more clearly and I realized why. It was a wanted poster. Sly looked at me, Bentley, and Murray. He then spoke," Alright guys, first things first. We need to get to the town and find a hideout." We all nodded and walked behind him towards the town.

After some time we eventually found a good place to set up the hideout in an old clock tower. We figured that Tennessee Kid Cooper had already been arrested by my father's lieutenants and guards, so it was just a matter of finding out how the hell we were gonna get him freed. Bentley scoped out the area on a geographical map on his computer. He tried looking for a way that Sly could get into the prison and free Tennessee, but the only thing he could come up with was one solution. Sly would have to get himself arrested and break out from the inside. Sly groaned. He then spoke," Ughhh Bentley, do I HAVE to?? Am I really gonna be stuck with all those jay walkers and shoplifters?" Bentley glared at Sly and spoke,"Do you want your ancestor to get hanged?" Sly replied quickly,"NO." Bentley spoke," Then this is what you gotta do, Sly. There is no other way to do this. Trust me." Sly pouted,"Ughhhh. Fine." Bentley then spoke again," All you need to do is draw graffiti over Toothpick's posters in the town and other little annoying crimes like that. Eventually, he will notice you and will try to arrest you. You have to let them take you,Sly. Just this once. Once you find Tennessee in the jail, I will give you further instructions." Sly replied," Alright. I'm on it."

I looked and Bentley and spoke to him," Hey Bentley, do you think I should help Sly?" Bentley shook his head and replied,"No, Sly is trying to get himself caught by Toothpick. God forbid Toothpick sees you, he may try and capture you and bring you back to your father. And then you will never see us again and that is not something we need right now." I nodded and spoke," Yea, now that you mention that, it would probably be wiser for me to stay. But what should I do?" Bentley thought for a moment and then replied,"You can help me and Murray with our mission to the bar. That reminds me. I got you some clothes to wear. If the guards see you wearing modern day clothes they are gonna tell you apart from the locals so I figured I would get you this." Bentley handed me some Old Western clothing. It was a brown shirt with a black vest, dark blue jeans and brown boots. There also was a little tan cowboy hat that came with it. I went to go and put it on myself and was surprised at how comfortable it was.

I walked out of the dressing room and spoke,"Well, what do you think Bentley? Do I look okay?" Bentley turned his head around and nodded. He was currently communicating with Sly through his computer. I spoke to Bentley,"How is he doing? Is everything going okay?" Bentley replied," Yea, everything is fine. Sly just doesn't know how to shut up, that's all." Sly replied throught the computer,"I heard that!" I chuckled.

Sly's Pov:

I made my way through the rooftops of the buildings and painted on all of Toothpick's posters. Talk about having a big freaking ego, jeez. I then followed Bentley's instructions and as expected, Toothpick's ugly face noticed me. Toothpick came over to me and yelled,"THERE YOU ARE! You no good filthy little thief! You just booked yourself a trip to the slammer boy!" I held my hands in surrender and the guards took me to the jailhouse.

When I arrived into the jail cell, I saw Tennessee sitting with his hat on his face.


	9. Chapter 9

Carmelita's PoV:

I walked inside the museum hallways trying to find the exit. I was so pissed right now I could barely think. That fucking ringtail. I swear when I get my hands on him I'm going to make him wish he was never even BORN! I then noticed a light at the end of the hallway. Weird. Last time I checked I was the only one in here since the Cooper gang left. Hmm. Either someone left the light on or there was possibly another thief in here. Great. JUST what I needed right now, yet another ringtail to arrest. Even still I had a feeling in my gut that I needed to check it out. So I followed my instincts and decided to take a look.

I walked into the corridor and went into the room with the lights on. Nothing suspicious so far. I wanted to be 100% sure there was absolutely no one else here though, so I went further down the hallway and entered another room.

This room was pitch black so I grabbed the flashlight from out of my pocket and tried to look around. I was stunned. All of the stolen art and treasures that Interpol had been searching for were HERE?! After all this time of searching, I have finally found all of the artworks that were being taken to the black market. Then I heard voices. I quickly tried to find a place to hide, since I didn't want to be caught. I found a pile of stolen artwork and hid behind it, praying no one would see me. The voices then entered the room and I held my breath, trying to make sure no one would hear me breathe. One of the voices started,"...and one more thing, if you see my daughter you are to bring her to me IMMEDIATELY. I do not want any of those filthy Cooper hoodlums helping her with this idiotic little rebellion of hers." I couldn't believe my eyes. It was none other than the famous art collector and owner of the museum, Cyrille le Paradox.

What. The. Fuck. HE did this??

I was so surprised that I didn't even notice one of the guards had seen me. I immediately panicked and grabbed for my gun, preparing to fight. However, I couldn't fight them all off at once so I laid down my gun and surrendered. Cyrille turned his head towards me and spoke,"Well, what have we here, an Interpol officer? How lovely." I glared at him and spoke,"You won't get away with this you asshole." Cyrille gave a smug grin and replied," Oh really? Well, I'm afraid you have missed the boat on that one, dear, because I already have." I tried to get out of the guards grasps but their grip was too strong. He then spoke to the guards," Take her to Toothpick and get rid of her. Report back here when you are done." The guards nodded and then everything went black.

I opened my eyes. Ughh. My head hurt so much. Where was I? I then heard a slavic accented voice speak up besides me,"Ah, she is awake now. Greetings, Inspector! Are your ready to die? Haha!" I gasped. I tried to get my pistol, but it was gone and I was all tied up. Shit. How was I gonna get out of this? The man laughed again and spoke," No use fretting about getting out Inspector, you will be dead before you even know it." I looked around. I was in some sort of stage coach. The terrain outside didnt look familiar either, it was...the desert? No..the west? What was going on?! Before I could even ask what was going on the coach started moving and I panicked. I needed to find a way to get out of this thing but HOW??

Emma's PoV:

I was on the rooftop with Sly looking around. I then heard a woman screaming. I was startled and tried to look for where it had came from. Sly had heard it too, and quickly took out his binocucom in order to check it out. Sly then grabbed my arm and started running. I spoke," Sly, what is going on? Do you know her??" Sly frowned and spoke quickly," We got to hurry! If we don't get there in time she is going to die!" I gasped and ran as fast as I could next to him.

We finally reached the ledge that was adjacent to the stage coach. I suddenly got an idea. "Sly! If I throw my daggers at the ropes connecting the bombs, then they will fall into the fire and explode, making it easier to catch the coach!" Sly nodded and agreed, he replied," Sounds like a plan I will try to get to the coach and get Carmelita out of there!" Huh, Carmelita... nice name.

Sly got to the coach and got Carmelita out of it just in time. I let out a sigh of relief. I was soo worried she was legit gonna die. I cut the ropes off of her with my dagger and looked at her. She looked at me and smiled. I blushed. She was so beautiful, and much prettier than Penelope. She had such beautiful eyes too. I had butterflies in my stomach for some weird reason. I spoke," My name is Emma. What is yours?" She replied,"Inspector Fox to others, but you can call me Carmelita. Thank you for saving my life, Emma. I am very grateful. It's good to know there are SOME competent people around here." Sly then spoke," Carmelita! I'm so happy you are okay!" Carmelita glared at Sly and spoke,"Sly cooper...you no good lying asswipe! I'm-" Before Carmelita could finish her sentence she was interrupted by Toothpick and his guards suddenly appearing from behind Sly, Bentley, and Murray. Toothpick then spoke,"Much obliged for the help Inspector! After I lock up these Coopers in jail I will come back for you in no time!" Toothpick then looked at me and,"...well if it isn't our little Emma! Your father has ordered me to bring you back home little girl, and I am not looking to go back empty handed. So you can either come with me now or the guards will 'assist' you in going back, your choice." I frowned. Why couldn't they all just leave me alone? Can't they just ignore me like they used to?? I spoke,"How about you go tell my father that I'm not going back EVER and let my friends GO!" Toothpick then sighed and replied,"Well, I didn't want to have to go for option 2, but you give me no choice little one. GUARDS, seize her!" I grabbed my daggers and got prepared to use them. All of a sudden a Tennessee came in and got in front of me and Carmelita, sheltering us both from being attacked by the guards. He then spoke,"Hoo, that was a close one! You ok ladies?" I nodded and spoke," Thank you, Tennessee." Tennessee tipped his hat and replied,"Anytime, pal." Carmelita then spoke," As much as I like the idea of Cooper in a cell, no on kidnaps Carmelita Fox and gets away with it!" Carmelita turned towards me and Tennessee and spoke,"You two ready to go and get those guys out of prison?" Me and Tennessee both nodded. We all then went down to the river.

Carmelita had found a boat for us to ride in and we both jumped into it. Tennessee paddled the boat and Carmelita shot the obstacles that were in our way. I threw daggers at enemies that were shooting at us from the sidelines. It was hard, but eventually we were able to get to the prison where Sly and the others were.

When me, Carmelita, and Tennessee finally got out of the boat we headed towards the prison to get the others out. When we walked in guards immediately started shooting at us from behind. Me and Carmelita went together to go and take care of the guards while Tennessee went ahead to go free Sly, Murray, and Bentley.

After me and Carmelita got done taking out all the guards we started to walk back. I spoke,"We make a pretty good team, don't ya think, Caramel?" Carmelita chuckled and replied,"Yes, I agree. I love your technique with the daggers, you are very skilled. I wish I could do that." I replied," I wish I knew how to shoot a gun. Also your pistol is super cool when you use it! You really are a great shooter. When did you first learn how to do all those awesome moves?" Carmelita replied," Oh, that? Those were just little manuevers I learned from the police academy. They are nothing special, really." I spoke," Do you think you could teach them to me sometime?" Carmelita replied,"You...want me to teach you that? I am flattered to be honest, I never have really been asked that by someone. I would be more than happy to teach you." I spoke,"Yay! I'm so happy! I'm gonna learn cool new moves and be a better fighter! Thanks, Caramel, you are the best!" Carmelita lightly blushed.

Carmelita's PoV:

I was taken aback by her beautiful smile. I felt my heart skip a beat whenever she laughed. Emma was truly a beautiful girl inside and outside and I was slowly starting to fall in love with her. She seemed so sweet and honest and kind, which was refreshing to see after being around all of these cooper outlaws and criminals. It was also nice to have another girl to be with on these missions, hanging around with just men can be quite dull after a while. What of her feelings? Did she even have feelings for me at all? A part of me wished so. I would just have to wait and see. We were gonna be together for a bit more time with the Coopers, so might as well use it to my advantage and maybe make a new friend.

Me and Emma finally made it to the rest of the gang. Sly immediately spoke to Carmelita,"Carmelita! I can explain everything-" I then got close to Emma and Tennessee and cut Sly off,"If it weren't for this charming young lady and gentleman, I would have been dead." Emma blushed. Tennessee also blushed and spoke bashfully,"Aw shucks, Miss Inspector." Sly had a confusing expression on his face, and spoke,"Charming?? Carmelita I don't think you understand what is exactly going on here-" I snapped at him," I don't give a FUCK what you have to say Cooper! I'm done listening to your pathetic excuses. Now let's go." Bentley spoke up,"Carmelita, how did you even get here?" I sighed and replied," That is a long story, Bentley. I will explain more when we get to the hideout." Murray spoke nervously," Guys?? Where is the van?!" Bentley replied," Murray, we are gonna have to get it another time. For now we need to focus on getting back to the hideout!" and with that we all ran back to the Hideout.

When we all got back to the hideout I couldn't even look at that asshole's face. I don't know what pissed me off more: not being able to arrest le paradox, or being trapped here with that lying ringtail. Either one made me boil with anger. I sighed. I needed to get some fresh air. I then went up to the clocktower window and sat there for a bit. I suddenly heard Emma speak from behind me," Uh, Carmelita? Do you mind if I sit with you for a bit and talk to you?" I nodded and moved over so that she could sit beside me. She spoke,"It actually is quite peaceful at night, You know?" I replied," Yea, I agree. No noises, no hustle and bustle of the town. Just silence. It can do wonders sometimes." She looked at me and spoke,"So...you are a cop, right? You are probably wanting to arrest my dad then?" I looked at her and nodded. It still surprised me that Cyrille was her father. They were complete opposites, like day and night. He always seemed to be very serious, uptight, cynical and judgemental. Emma was cheerful, beautiful, kind, sweet, mesmerizing... I snapped out of my thoughts and focused on what she was saying in the moment. I then spoke," Emma, I have to. It is my job, I have to arrest criminals. Your father is doing a lot of really horrible things right now, and I can't just ignore that." Emma sighed,"No,I completely understand.It's just that for my entire life I have been told a lot of things about the Coopers. To now know all of that is a lie has been...weird. My father gave me everything I wanted as a child. When mother died, he became even more protective over me and that's when he really secluded me from the world. I had always thought that he had done it because there were lots of horrible people who would hurt me, and even though I had always wanted to go, I stayed,purely because of my fear of my father being right about everything. You probably can't relate to this, but I just wanted to talk to someone about it just to get it off my chest." I replied," I know how you feel. When I was a little girl my father was the chief of police for my hometown in Spain. Everyone had adored him in our community and it seemed that my father was absolutely perfect in every way. My father had always wanted me to become a police officer like him, though and to be honest, I didn't want to. I was scared of fighting against people and getting killed. But, I did what he wanted and became a police officer despite how I felt. I did believe in justice, as did my parents, but I had always wanted to do it in another way, like working in medicine. Point is, don't be like me. I did exactly what my father wanted and didn't follow my heart. I wouldn't say I am not happy being a police officer, but the fact is, it wasn't my first choice and in the end the only reason why I did it was to make my family happy."

Emma's PoV:

I was astonished, I would have never guessed that Carmelita had similar experiences with this. She continued,"I'm sorry you had to go through all of this.You don't deserve any of it. You didn't deserve being treated that way by your father, you deserve to be free to make your own decisions. You are a kind, sweet, and wonderful girl, Emma. I know I have only known you for a day or so, but I can see a lot about your character. Don't let your father and his 'friends' ever take that away from you by becoming something you are not. Trust me." I felt so warm inside. I have never felt so understood and cared about by someone before. It was nice. I yawned. Carmelita spoke," It is getting late, I'm gonna get going to bed. Good night, Emma." I replied,"See you tomorrow."and went to bed.


	10. Chapter 10

Emma's PoV:

I woke up to the sound of a train whistle a couple yards behind the clock tower. I yawned and got myself out of the bed, slowly. I then put on some clothes and climbed down the ladder to the main room. The only ones awake were Bentley and Carmelita. Carmelita was reading a book and Bentley was, of course, on his computer. I walked in there slowly and grabbed a croissant that was in the food bag. I then spoke,"Good morning guys, what's the plan for today?" Bentley turned to me and spoke," We are gonna try and stop Toothpick today. Key word being try. His train of gold is set to start coming around 1pm so we have until then."

I groaned. Carmelita turned to me and put her hand on my shoulder,"Don't worry, Emma. You and I are going to work together on this one." I looked at her and made a sigh of relief. I then spoke,"Thanks Carmelita." Bentley then spoke again,"Yea, you, I, and Carmelita are going to be together taking down the security grids, so you don't have to worry about dealing with Toothpick, that's gonna be Sly's job." Thank god. I don't think I could have handled being in front of that greedy shithead. I smiled at Carmelita and spoke,"Thanks for teaming up with me. I feel a bit better now about doing this mission with you by my side." Carmelita nodded and smiled at me. Sly, Murray, and Tennesee then walked into the room. Sly looked at Carmelita. Carmelita's smiled faded and she ignored Sly's gaze. She then talked to Bentley,"Well then now that everyone is up, shall we go through the plan again?" Bentley nodded and spoke," Alright everyone. Today we are going to, hopefully, take down Toothpick and take back the gold he stole. Tennessee and Sly, you guys are going to deal with Toothpick and defeating him. Murray, you are going to go onto the last train cart and unlock the van. You are gonna drive the van besides the train and keep close to us all so that we can go to you when we are done. Finally, Carmelita, Emma, and I will deal with the security and defeating the guards that are guarding the gold cart. Now if we all do what we are supposed to do, we should succeed. Does everyone know what they have to do?" We all nodded.

Me and Carmelita pushed Bentley off the bridge to the train platform. Bentley then went to work hacking into the security system to disable the lazer grids and activating the train whistles. Carmelita shot at the guards with her pistol gun. I was close behind her making sure she was protected at all times. One of the guards, however, shot when Carmelita wasn't looking. Seeing this, I panicked and threw a dagger straight into his chest. I looked at Carmelita who was standing besides me, breathing heavily. I spoke to her,"Are you alright? I was so worried you were gonna get hurt." Carmelita then looked at me and replied,"I'm fine, thanks to you. If it weren't for your keen observation skills I would have been seriously injured. I think I took care of most of the guards. Now all we need to do is wait for Bentley's signal." And as if on cue, Bentley showed up. Bentley then spoke," Alright you two, I have successfully hacked into the system so I have full control over the train whistles and security instruments. Which means we all can now safely pass through to the next carts." Me and Carmelita nodded. All of a sudden we heard the van horn besides us and saw Murray in the van. Murray shouted,"Anybody need a ride?" The three of us then jumped into the van as we sped towards the front and took the gold back.

Tennessee walked up to Toothpick and yelled,"Why don't you get your ass down here and take your whoopin like a MAN sheriff??" Toothpick turned towards Tennessee with absolute rage and shouted,"TENNESSEE KID COOPER! I am going to lock you in the deepest, darkest, coldest cell in the prison and I am going to throw away the key!" Tennessee then spoke again,"Give it up Toothpick! The fat lady has sung and you are done!" Toothpick then replied,"Am I?" Then all of a sudden some guards came up and held Tennessee in place as Toothpick grabbed his gun from him. Tennessee shouted,"NO! My gun!" Toothpick then laughed,"Thanks Kid! Le Paradox sends his regards! Now all I need is that girl back and I will have everything I need! Adios idiot!" I suddenly got very anxious at the mention of me. Carmelita put her hand on my shoulder though, to reassure me. I was starting to really like it to be honest. I have never had someone understand me and support me so well ever in my life. I was so happy that I met her.

Tennessee sat on the ground dazed. Sly then came up besides him and spoke," Relax, pal. I'll take care of this. Your cane will be back in your hands in no time." Sly then jumped towards Toothpick.

After Toothpick was defeated, Tennessee jumped off the train with his burnt self in hand. I then looked into the distance and spoke,"Hey, guys? Why is there no track there? Is that supposed to be there?" Bentley then looked up and panickingly spoke,"NO! We got to get out of here now!" Bentley then spoke to Sly,"Sly we got a real problem!" Sly chuckled,"I think I just took care of that Benny." Bentley then replied," No! Sly it's the train- it's heading for a broken bridge!" Sly then looked in front of him. He then spoke,"I'm guessing that wasn't part of the plan?" Bentley replied,"Sly you need to GET off that train! Jump into the van!" Sly then jumped onto the rooftop of the van. Bentley then shouted,"MURRAY HIT THE BRAKES!" Murray tried to press on the brakes multiple times but to no avail. Me and Carmelita looked at each other with worried expressions on our faces. Murray then yelled,"THEY AREN'T WORKING AND I CANT SHUT DOWN THE ROCKETS!" Carmelita looked at me and saw my nervous expression. She held my hand. She then spoke angrily to Murray,"WHAT?! YOU FUCKING IDIOTS! YOU CALL THIS A PLAN?! ugh I knew this was a bad idea, I knew I should have had you take me straight back to Paris! I can't believe it is going to END like this!" Sly cried out,"BENTLEY?! NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME FOR ONE OF YOUR IDEAS!" Bentley then spoke," Sorry Murray, this has to do for now!" Murray looked in the back seat and saw Bentley throwing his ancient necklace into the time machine. Murray yelled," Hey! That's my necklace! COME ON!" Bentley yelled," Here goes nothin!" Suddenly the van went off the cliff and we all screamed.


	11. Chapter 11

Emma's PoV:

We had crash landed somewhere that was prehistoric, by the looks of it. Fortunately, it was very familiar to me, since I had seen all of the locations my father's friends had been assigned to. So it looked like we were on the right track, finding the ancestors-wise. Unfortunately, on the other hand, the van wasn't working. Shit. Not only were we not able to get back to Paris, we also couldn't even contact Dimitri, so that was fun. Also, YET AGAIN we failed to get back the ancestor's cane from my father's guards. Sly was trying to figure out how exactly my father was able to travel through time through research,but nothing. He tried asking me but I knew nothing as well. Father never tells me anything, and when he does it is mostly lies or he just tries to ingore the question entirely. I frowned. It still hurt to think about. I knew he was a scumbag, but in my heart there was a part of me that still wanted my dad back. The nice, kind and sweet father that I had always known as a child. Sure, he was overprotective and controlling, but atleast he wasn't mean or outwardly cruel back then. He had always said that he was doing it for my best interest and I actually believed it. But now that I knew what he really was, I couldn't be with him anymore. I couldn't just sit there and ignore all the wrong and cruel things that he had done to Sly and the others. It had to stop. I just hope that everything will work out okay for all of us.

I looked outside and saw Carmelita standing outside, alone. I could tell she was still really angry about Sly lying to her about his amnesia. I felt so bad for her. She didn't deserve being lied to and betrayed. Sly is a great guy, but he is also a huge idiot and a doofus sometimes. He does stupid crap, and sometimes that stupid stuff hurts a lot of people. I walked up to her and put my hand on her shoulder and extended the blanket that I wore out to her. She smiled and came closer to me and nuzzled my neck. I blushed. She really was so beautiful when she was happy. I then looked behind me and saw Sly looking at the both of us, confused and then irritated. I knew he wanted to probably talk to Carmelita, but she didn't want to be ANYWHERE near him and I honestly couldn't blame her. After a couple of minutes of cuddling in the blanket, I spoke,"Do you feel any better now Caramel?" Carmelita looked at me and chuckled. She then spoke,"Yes. Thank you...MM." I was surprised for a moment. I then giggled and spoke,"Haha! That's a great nickname! Why didn't I think of that?" Carmelita giggled and spoke," I figured it was only fair to give you a nickname, since you gave me one." I smiled. I then spoke," Carmelita? Since we are already out here alone and stuff, do you mind if I talk to you about something?" Carmelita then looked at me and spoke," Not at all, what's going on Emma?" I spoke," I know we just met recently, and maybe this is too soon but I don't want to hide it any longer. I can't lie to you, not like Sly did. I just need to get this off of my chest before we can move forward." Carmelita looked confused and she then spoke," Emma? I don't...understand. What are you trying to say?" I breathed in and out slowly. I was really nervous. What if she didn't like me back? What if this ruins our friendship? I then summed up all of my courage and then spoke,"Carmelita, I...I'm kind of in love with you." Carmelita blushed and went silent for a moment. I got nervous, I was prepared for the worst. This was a bad idea, I knew I should have waited. She is probably gonna be so weirded out and uncomfortable. She then spoke,"And here I was, fearing you would never return my feelings. Glad to see that I was wrong." I looked at her. I was shocked. I then spoke," W-wait...so does this mean that you...you actually like me? You would actually be okay with being my girlfriend??" Carmelita then smiled and kissed me on the lips. My heart was racing so fast and I closed my eyes as she kissed me. She then spoke,"Does that answer your question?" My face was red. She giggled and spoke," You are so beautiful when you blush." I spoke," So, we are officially girlfriends?" Carmelita then nodded and I shouted happily," YES! WOOHOOO!" Carmelita chuckled. I then heard Sly's voice from by the hideout calling my name. I looked at Carmelita and spoke," We should probably get going. It's getting colder." Carmelita replied," You go ahead. I'm going to stay out here." I looked at her with concern and spoke," Are you sure, Caramel? I don't want you to get sick or get eaten or-"She looked at me and then kissed my cheek. She then spoke," I will be fine. You go out there and help them, Emma. They need you. I am going to do some scouting and maybe get some more info about what is going on here." I nodded and spoke,"Alright. Be careful." She nodded and walked off, with her shock pistol in hand. I walked back into the hideout, processing everything that just happened.

Sly looked at me. I looked at him questioningly, and spoke," Sly? Is there something wrong? You have been staring at me for like 5 minutes." Sly then spoke,"What EXACTLY were you and Carmelita doing out there?? She doesn't even talk to me, and yet she is attached to you and she BARELY even knows you!" I spoke,"We just talked? I mean we talked about our feelings and stuff too and oh..." Sly narrowed his eyes and looked at me again. He then spoke,"What do you mean,'oh'?" I spoke," Me and Carmelita are...uh...girlfriends now." I laughed nervously. Bentley and Murray looked at each other and then looked at me and Sly. No one spoke for a minute. Bentley then broke the silence,"So...you two are a...thing now? Huh. I would have never guessed honestly." Murray then smiled and hugged me," Awww! Congrats, pal! You two will make an adorable couple! I'm so happy for you, I really am!" I smiled back at Murray and spoke," Thanks, Murshmallow. I appreciate it." Murray then looked at me with a confused expression. I laughed and spoke,"Get it? It's a nickname I came up with. I combined your name with Marshmallow. I don't know, I thought it was funny." Murray then laughed and spoke,"I LOVE IT! Ooooh did you make one for Sly and Bentley?!" I spoke,"Yea! For Bentley I couldn't decide between Benny Ruth or Bennerfinger. What do you prefer Benny?" Bentley thought for a moment and spoke," Hmm. Tough choice. Well, I guess if I HAD to choose, I would say Benny Ruth would definitely be the winner for me." We all laughed. I then spoke," For Sly I had a bit of trouble, but I eventually found the perfect nickname, Slurpie. What do you think, Sly?" Sly didn't speak. I then rolled my eyes and spoke,"Sly, oh my freaking god! Can you please stop with the brooding? It's not my fault you messed up with Carmelita, okay? Me and Carmelita love each other and if you can't accept that, then you really must not want us to be happy. Sly you are my friend, okay? That will never change, unless you don't want me to be your friend then that is fine, but I just-" Sly grumbled,"It ...isn't about Carmelita." I looked at him with confusion. Ok? What the hell could he be possibly mad about then?? I spoke to him in a calmer voice,"Sly, do we need to have a private conversation? Because I do not want you to hate me the entire time we are here. Whatever issue you have, we can deal with it right now." Sly spoke," We don't need to do it privately, Benny and Murray already know." I looked at Bentley and Murray and their eyes didn't meet mine. I looked back at Sly and spoke,"What the hell are you talking about? What is even going on? I am legit so freaking confused right now." Murray then spoke,"Ugh, I don't want to keep it a secret anymore! Sly had a crush on you! Ok? There I said it!" Sly glared at Murray and shouted," MURRAY!" Murray spoke,"I'm sorry, Sly. I didn't want to lie to her anymore about it, ok?" I was shocked. I looked at Sly. He was blushing in embarrassment. I spoke to him, calmly"Sly...why didn't you just tell me that? Do you not trust me?" He looked at me and spoke,"N-no! It is not about that! I do trust you! I just...I thought that if I told you how I felt then things would get awkward between us and I didn't want that. I really care about you Emma, and I just wanted you to feel...happy. Please don't hate me." I put my hand on his shoulder and spoke," Sly, we are friends no matter what happens. Even though I don't share those feelings, I am still your bestie. You can count on me! Just...no more secrets,ok?" Sly looked at me and spoke,"R-really? You aren't...mad?" I spoke,"Of course not." Sly then hugged me tightly. I smiled and hugged him back. Bentley then spoke up,"I hate to interrupt you guys and all, but we should probably start scouting out the area and figure out where and when we even are." Sly spoke,"Agreed. Just tell me where you'd like me to go buddy, and I will be on my way." I spoke up,"I'll come with you! You never know when my daggers will come in handy." Sly smiled and spoke,"Alright, just let me get my gear on.We'll leave in a couple minutes."

Me and Sly snuck around the area and we eventually found a guy in a purple outfit with a crown and a paintbrush. Oh no. I recognized him instantly. It was the Grizz. Sly spoke,"That guy DEFINITELY didn't get that bling from around here." I then spoke,"Yea, his name is the Grizz. I saw him speak to my father a couple of times, he is really aggressive. I don't know much of his background though, sorry." Bentley spoke into the binocucom," That's great information right there Emma. Once we search up his name onto the computer I could try and pull up some of his files from Interpol. Sly take a picture of him so we can have some reference of what he actually looks like." Me and Sly then heard a lot of yelling and shouting at a nearby lava lake. Me and him then ran to the location as fast as we could.

Sly found a weird cape on the ground as we were running. He then put it on and did a funny pose in it. I laughed and spoke,"You look like an idiot haha." We then proceeded to go towards the lava lake.

When we finally got there we found a bunch of guards trying to take some kind of stick from a huge muscular man that was tied down. The stick not only looked important to the man it had a familiar curve on the end. Which could only mean ONE thing. Me and Sly knew we needed to get him out of there as fast as we could. All of a sudden some guards jumped on top of the man and tried to yank away the stick from him. Then a loud, deep voice yelled at the guards," Make it quick with that stick the Grizz don't play! I don't got all day!" The guards then finally yanked the stick out of the muscular man's hands and they then threw the stick towards the Grizz. "The Grizz then grabbed the stick and gave it to one of the other guards. He then yelled,"Now THAT'S what I'm talkin about! Now I want to talk to your boss about my goods!" Oh no. Yet another cane stolen by my father's men. I looked at Sly and he gestured for me to follow him.

We jumped onto the place where the muscular man was being held and I cut the ropes that were tying the man down. The man then broke free. Bentley then spoke,"Sly! This is your very first ancestor!" Sly's eyes widened and he spoke," I...uh...it's truly an honor to meet you, sir! My name is Sly Cooper, I am your relative form the far future." The man spoke in absolute gibberish, so there was no way for us to understand what he was even saying. The man then pointed at me with a confused expression on her face. I then spoke," My name is Emma. I am a friend of his." We all then went back to the hideout.

Me and Sly were on the top of a large rock by the Grizz. Bentley had assigned us to follow him, in order to get the access code to his fortress. All the while I couldn't stop thinking about Carmelita. I wondered how she was doing. I hope she was ok. She had not come back to the hideout in some time. I know it has been only a couple days, but I miss her a lot. I just want to be beside her and hold her hand and hug her. I sighed. Oh Caramel, please come back soon.

I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard the Grizz rapping as he was waiting for the phone to dial. Me and Sly listened closely to what he was saying on the phone. The Grizz then spoke," WHAT? Fool, you trying to run some kind of game on the Grizz? I am TIRED of you telling me to walk the straight line, while you're over here walking it all crooked!...No,no,no,no THAT ain't the deal we had! I got you the cane and the big ol hairy dude and you got to hook me up!" Sly then spoke to Bentley in his binocucom,"You catch that Bentley?" Bentley then replied,"Yea, sounds like he is talking to Le paradox, and there is trouble." I spoke,"Agreed. Typical of my father to boss everyone around and not listen to them. He treats them like they are children. I should know." The Grizz then started to walk more and we followed closely behind him, trying not to get caught. The Grizz spoke again,"You there? Good. The eggs are running out, man. I need them for my paint production so I need you to get me the resources!..." Sly then spoke,"Hey Bentley, why don't we have a phone like that to talk to Dimitri?" Bentley replied," You really want Dimitri calling you?" Sly then replied," Good point." The Grizz then spoke again," Oh come on man. I gave you what you wanted, now you give me what I want! Not only THAT, but now I got those crazy Cooper kids messing with my biz right now!

So I got to deal with that and I don't see you giving me any help. No help at all!...Yea, I'll take care of her. What does she look like again, man?" Sly and I looked at each other with annoyed expressions. Ugh. Can't my father just fucking leave me alone? Like WHY can't he just accept the fact that I like being with the Coopers?

We followed Grizz back to his fortress and lost him. Bentley shouted in the binocucom,"No! I was so close!" I spoke,"So, does this mean no luck on the code, Benny?" Bentley replied sadly,"It does. I'm sorry guys."

Then all of a sudden a female voice from behind us spoke,"I guess the big guy got away,huh?" Me and Sly both turned around. I then shouted excitedly,"Carmelita!" I then ran up to her and hugged her. Carmelita laughed and hugged me back. I spoke,"Oh Caramel, I missed you so much! Please don't disappear like that again!" Carmelita smiled at me and spoke,"I won't,darling. I promise, and I'm happy to see you too." She then kissed me gently on the lips. Sly then spoke,"Carmelita! It's...good to see you!" Carmelita looked at him and rolled her eyes. She then spoke,"Uh-huh. I'm only talking to you because I have some information for Bentley. I have been tailing Grizz on my own, and I have the entire code and full schematics for his mountain base." Sly replied, astonished,"Wow, uh thank you." Carmelita replied,"You're welcome. So, you'll get it to Bentley for me?" Sly replied," Of course. Me and Emma are heading back to the hideout right now. But wouldn't you want to hand it to him yourself?" I looked at both of them, you could legit cut the tension with a knife. Carmelita looked like she wanted to punch the living crap out of him. She replied," Maybe I should. After all, you're not exactly TRUSTWORTHY, are you?" Oof. Damn, Caramel definitely knew how to destroy someone with her sass. I actually kind of found it low key sexy though. Sly was taken aback. He then spoke," Ouch. So...we're good, right?" Carmelita rolled her eyes and spoke," Don't push your luck, Ringtail." Carmelita then looked at me and spoke," You coming, Emma?" I looked at Sly, and nodded.


	12. Chapter 12

Carmelita's PoV:

I finally caught up with the gang to give the info that I gathered from the Grizz. A part of me wanted to slap the stupid smile off Sly's face. However, another part of me just wanted to talk to him. Working on my own these past few days has given me time to think. I had realized some things. Sly may have been completely lying to me the entire time that we were together, but I had been lying to myself as well. In my heart I had known something was up, when Sly never was a smartass and joking every 5 seconds like he usually was. I didn't want to believe it though. I wanted to believe that I had changed him, that he was a different person now. But, Sly was who he was and I had to accept that. Although this crazy time travel crap had made me see the Cooper family in a completely new perspective too. In the past, I had always been chasing Cooper and had been arriving at the crime scene last minute. But now that I fought alongside him, Murray, Bentley, and his ancestors I had to admit a new found respect. We aren't really so different after all. We both fight for justice, we just do it on opposite sides of the law. Question is, can I live with that? I don't know. But I definitely DO know that I am not leaving here until I put that stinking weasel behind bars for good!

I know that I want to leave what me and Sly had behind. I had fallen in love with Emma, and I want to be with her now. Sly had his chance and he blew it. After this whole time travel business is done I want to be with her, and that's that. I don't care that Cyrille is her father, and I don't care about her past. All I care about is her being happy and safe. She is everything I could ever ask for in a girl, and I think it will be healthier for me in the end to move on from Sly. No use dwelling on the past. I looked at her. Emma was sitting down and drinking some hot chocolate besides Sly and Murray. I saw a fresh hot chocolate cup, and took a sip out of it. I then went and sat beside Emma in the adjacent seat. Emma looked at me and smiled gently. She then laid her head besides my shoulder.

Emma's PoV:

Bentley spoke,"Alright guys. Sly, Bob, and I will be riding in the cart together. Murray, Emma, and Carmelita will be in the other cart together." Sly then spoke,"Carmelita, are you sure you'll be alright?" Carmelita replied,"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" Sly replied," Well I wouldn't want you to get cold, sitting in that other cart." Carmelita rolled her eyes," Don't worry Ringtail, I have my shock pistol and my girlfriend to keep me warm." I blushed and chuckled a bit. Carmelita was an absolute savage when it came to sassy comebacks. I am so happy she's my girlfriend.

We eventually made it towards the Grizz's lair and we found him near Murray. Oh no. I gasped and spoke," Murray! Oh my god Grizz is gonna crush him to death! We have to help him! Quick, Benny, do something!" Bentley then spoke,"Hold on Emma, I think Murray can handle this." Carmelita then replied," What?!" Sly then spoke,"Yea guys, Murray's got this! My money's on the big guy!"

Murray then spoke to the Grizz,"If you think I am gonna let your ass get away with hurting my friends, you are sorely mistaken CHUMP!" The Grizz then replied," Oh? What have we here? It's a pink nightmare." Murray then clenched his fists and spoke," Trust me pal, you AIN'T dreaming!" The Grizz yelled," I'm tired of you little Cooper shits, Le Paradox, everyone! All I ever wanted to do was skate!" Murray looked at us and then at him. He then said slowly," Oook?" The Grizz," NoNONo, It ain't ok dude! Ever since I was a little boy, I have always wanted to skate, and NOW you Cooper chumps are gonna stroll on in here and ruin everything? No, It ain't going down like that y'all!" Murray and him then began to fight.

As we expected, Murray succeeded in taking down the Grizz with ease. After the battle,we went back to the hideout. Carmelita had cooled off, a bit. I really couldn't blame her for still feeling so uncomfortable about Sly and the stuff my father was doing. She was joining thieves, something that went against everything she ever stood for. I could tell it was a tough decision for her. In the end, she knew that teaming up with the Coopers was probably her only chance at catching my father and locking him up in jail. I sat next to her and cuddled next to her in the blankets as we both sat next to each other. I was happy that those two finally stopped being awkward around each other.

Bentley was finally able to fix the communicator that made us able to talk to Dimitri. Dimitri was so happy when he found out we were okay, as he had been worried we were 'warping our faces off'...whatever that meant. He told us that our next location was Medieval England, and that Grizz's crown was our ticket in getting there. So, we put the crown in the time machine and finally got out of the Ice Age.

We had gotten to England in search of Sly's ancestor, known as Sir Galleth. Instead of a regal and chivalrous knight,we found a jester in a circus. Which was a key indicator that father dearest had visited here and wreaked havoc. Just great. Sly eventually was able to locate where he was being kept. It was, obviously, a circus tent in the middle of the town. Sly went out to try and rescue Galleth. Me and the others stayed in the hideout.

Bentley was communicating with Sly throught the binocucom. Murray was snoring away. Carmelita was sitting and reading a book. I walked over to her and looked at the book she was holding. It was dark purple with light blue engravings on it. It had a picture of a willow tree on the front. It was titled,"The Whispering Willow". I spoke,"Hmm. 'The Whispering Willow' huh? Looks really pretty." Carmelita then put the book down and replied,"Yea, it's about a girl that got turned into a willow tree by an evil witch. The only way to break the spell is for someone to take one of her leaves and to whisper to it. It has been quite fascinating. So far, I am halfway through." I spoke,"Wow! Sounds like a fairytale, haha. I would have never thought that you loved books, especially the fantasy kind. I like books too, but my real passion is singing." Carmelita's eyes lit up. She spoke,"You sing? That's amazing! Would you mind singing for me sometime? I am more of a dancer myself. I know a lot of Spanish dances. Are there any songs you like in particular?" I thought for a moment. I loved a great variety of songs. I then spoke," I think it would have to be tie between 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun','Fireflies', and 'Part of Your World', because I love those the most." Carmelita smiled and spoke," You love Cyndi Lauper too?! I thought I was the only one to be honest. If I had to pick a favorite song I would have to pick 'Genie in a Bottle'. Always was very catchy to me haha." I chuckled and spoke," I can't believe we have so much in common, it's almost as if we are soulmates haha! Oh! Let's try something else. How about seasons?" Carmelita replied,"Summer, without a doubt. I always loved the hot weather and wearing shorts. What about you?" I spoke," Spring, but Summer is a close second! I just love how pretty the trees are in the Spring, and the flowers are wonderful too. My favorite flowers are roses, daffodils, and lilies." We all then suddenly heard an unfamiliar british voice,"Ah! So this is where your group has dwelled! Wonderful, now we shall destroy the Black Knight together at once!" Galleth then went to jump out the window. But he was pulled back in by Sly. Galleth looked at me and Carmelita and bowed. Me and Caramel looked at each other in confusion. Gallerh spoke,"Ah fair damsels, what pray tell are your names?" I spoke," I'm Emma and this is Inspector Carmelita. Also you don't have to...uh...bow like that. We aren't royalty or anything." Galleth then got up and spoke,"As a knight of the Cooper Order it is my duty to protect those in need and to treat fair damsels with the utmost respect. It would be absolutely heinous not to. Now Sly, what pray tell are we to do next?" Sly then spoke," Galleth, please. Just calms down. We can't do anything right now. We need to get you situated." Galleth scoffed,"Excuse me?? My Order is in danger and in the hands of that Black Knight scoundrel! You will not tell me to calm down at a dire time like this!" I went over to Galleth and spoke," Galleth, please. I know you are very stressed and anxious, but for right now we need to stick together and just take it one step at a time. It has been a long day and I am sure you are very tired, why don't you rest for the night? We will talk about this more tomorrow, I promise. Sly is doing everything in his power to keep you guys safe, you are in good hands." Galleth sighed and nodded. He then spoke," Very well. I suppose it will have to wait til the 'morrow. Fare thee well you all, I am going to rest in my quarters." Sly looked at me and spoke," Thanks, I owe you one pal. I can't believe you got him to actually calm down." I shrugged my shoulders and spoke," I can't believe it myself to be honest." Carmelita spoke," Well I think we should all be going off to bed as well. Tomorrow is going to be another busy day." We all then went to our chambers to sleep.

_10 years ago_

_ I ran through the meadows with roses in my little hands. I saw my father and shouted,"Papa!" My father turned his head and smiled. He then spoke,"Ah! And what have you brought for me now, cherie? Another gift?" I giggled and spoke,"It's a surprise Papa! Close your eyes!" My father then chuckled and closed his eyes. I put the flower crown on top of his head. I then spoke," Ok, you can open them now!" My father then felt the top of his head and picked up the flower crown. He then looked at it and smiled. He then spoke,"Oh my goodness, what a magnificent little crown." I spoke," Do you like it Papa?" My father smiled and picked me up. He then spoke,"I adore it, cherie. I shall treasure it always." My eyes lit up and I spoke excitedly," Really papa?! Do you really mean it?!" My father smiled and nodded. He then spoke again," Now it is time for MY gift." I looked at him with a confused expression and spoke,"You got me a gift?" My father chuckled and spoke," Yes, but you must close your eyes." I nodded and closed my eyes. I felt my father put something around my neck. He then spoke," Alright, you can open them now." I opened my eyes rapidly and immediately looked at what he had put around my neck. I was stunned. It was a locket shaped as a heart with an emerald in the middle. I gasped and hugged my father. I spoke," It's so beautiful papa! Thank you so much!" My father then spoke," You're welcome, my little rose. But you have missed the most important part of the gift." I looked at him questioningly. He then held my locket and opened it. It revealed a fanily portrait of me, mother and father inside of it. I was stunned. My father spoke,"Do you like it?" I spoke happily," I love it! You are the best papa! I love you so much!" I then hugged him tightly. My father then hugged me back and replied," I love you too my little rose. I always will_."

I woke up and felt my neck. I had the locket my father had gave me. I didnt even realize I still had it til now. It was still dark outside. I wondered what time it actually was. I looked at the clock besides my bed. It was 2:00 am. I sighed. It was gonna be one of those sleepless nights, I could tell. I got up and walked out of my room. I went to check if anyone else was up. It seemed that everyone was fast asleep. Except for one person. Carmelita. She was still reading her book that she was reading earlier. I spoke," Still reading I see." Carmelita looked at me with a surprised look on her face. She then spoke," What are you doing awake, Emma? I thought you'd be fast asleep." I sighed and spoke,"Yea, I wanted to sleep." I sat by her and laid on a pillow next to her. I spoke," You mind if I stay here for a bit? I feel more comfortable in here." Carmelit nodded and spoke," Of course. I was just about to go to sleep

anyways." She then turned off her lamp light and snuggled up next to me and held my waist. I blushed. She whispered in my ear," Good night, querida." She then kissed my cheek. I replied," Good night, Caramel." She giggled. I felt so warm, so cozy, so safe. Before I knew it my eyes got very heavy and I succumbed to the lull of slumber.


	13. Chapter 13

Emma's PoV:

I woke up feeling well rested for once. I looked to the side of the bed. Carmelita was still sleeping. She really did look so beautiful when she slept. I yawned and looked at the clock. It was 8:30 in the morning. Still early in my opinion. I was surprised that Carmelita wasn't up yet, usually she was awake before I was. I figured I would just let her sleep, she probably was so tired from the past couple of days. I got up out of the bed and changed out of my pj's. I put on a pink long sleeved shirt,black leggings, sone black lace up boots, and a black zip up jacket. I looked at myself in the mirror and put my hair up in a high ponytail. I then put a small blue scarf on my neck. I then heard Carmelita's voice behind me,"You look great in a pony tail." I was a tiny bit startled at first, but I smiled and spoke,"Thanks. Good morning to you too, Caramel. How did you sleep?" Carmelita yawned and spoke," Like a baby, haha." I sat beside her on the bed. I spoke," You wanna go and eat soon?" Carmelita yawned again and spoke,"In a couple minutes. I haven't fully woken up yet."

Carmelita and I walked down the stairs to the main room. Murray, Sly, Bentley and Galleth were all sitting at the table. Galleth spoke to us," Good morning ladies! How was your rest?" I spoke," It was actually pretty good, thanks." Bentley then spoke,"Emma not to rush into things, but do you have any idea who the Black Knight could be? Did you see anyone who worked for your father that might have been able to do this?" I thought for a moment and spoke," Well, I mean, there was this blonde girl that was father's 'master technician', I have a good feeling it might be her. She seemed really smart and she was kind of cute too. I don't know what kind of criminal she was though? Maybe if you search her up we will find out more." Bentley, Sly, and Murray all looked at me with shocked looks on their faces. Bentley then spoke," Did this girl...have glasses?" I nodded. Bentley dropped his cup of coffee he had been currently drinking. Sly started yelling,"THAT BACKSTABBING BITCH! HOW DARE SHE HELP THAT WEASEL!" Murray just kept on eating his muffin. I was startled and taken aback. I then spoke nervously,"Guys? Is everything okay? What's wrong? Do you guys know her?" Murray then spoke gently to me,"Penelope used to be part of our gang. She was our RC technician and she was also Bentley's girlfriend." I gasped and spoke,"Oh my god. I'm so sorry guys, I-I didn't know!" Sly then calmed down and spoke to me," It's fine Emma. There was literally no way for you to know about that. Good thing is now, at least we have a better idea of who we are actually up against." Bentley was speechless. I felt so bad for him. Had I known, I would have probably never told him to be honest. I went over to him and spoke," Benny? I'm so sorry. I know you must be really upset right now, but we are gonna get through this, together. Me, Sly, Murray, Galleth, Carmelita... we are all here to support you and we will be here if you need to talk." Bentley replied,"Thank you Emma. I appreciate your kindness but I don't think anything is gonna make me feel better about this." I sighed and spoke,"I know, but I figured it would be good to give you support. We can never have too much of that, especially right now. I suppose we should figure out what we are going to accomplish today too. We only have so much time on our hands. Though, I completely understand if you don't want to be bothered today, Benny." Bentley nodded and spoke," No, you absolutely right. My feelings will have to wait for now. We need to worry about stopping Penelope and your father. That is our most important objective right now." I nodded. I then spoke,"So what's the plan Benny?" Bentley spoke," Now that we know that the Black Knight...er...Penelope...is currently in possession of Galleth's cane we need to figure out how we are going to get it back." We all tried to think for a bit of what exactly we were going to do.

Eventually, Bentley assigned Galleth on mission to slay the "dragon" that was guarding the castle. Galleth was all too eager to destroy the menace that lurked beneath the castle. Me and Carmelita went behind Galleth and kept tabs on him. We both knew that Galleth's way of rushing into everything he did would probably get him into trouble, so we wanted to prevent that. It was the least we could do. Me and Carmelita made pur way past the buildings of the town. We tried our best to hide from the guards and we eventually made it to the bridge. We then saw Sly on the bridge, just hanging out. He saw us and then spoke," Uh...what are you two doing?" Carmelita then replied," Relax, Ringtail. Me and Emma are just keeping tabs on the dragon slayer." Sly rolled his eyes and mumbled,"I don't recall you doing that for any of my jobs." Carmelita then spoke again," Only when I'm not trying to catch you. I find Galleth charming though. He has a good heart, even if he is a headstrong goof." I then spoke," Yeah, don't worry about us, Sly. We'll be alright. We just want to make sure Galleth doesn't get incinerated by the big scary dragon, ya know?" Sly then spoke," Well then you'd better get going before Sir Goof gets himself captured again." I noticed a bit of envy in his voice and got a tiny bit aggravated. What is up with him? I thought he would be happy that we are doing this. I then turned to him and spoke," You know Sly, he is YOUR ancestor at the end of the day. It wouldn't kill you to be grateful and appreciative that we are even helping at all. Don't you care about his well being? Without him you wouldn't even EXIST." Sly then stepped towards me and spoke,"Of course I do! I just think that you two are being WAY too over protective of him." I then replied,"Overprotective? I'm sorry, would you like Galleth to be incinerated? Or captured by Penelope or my father? Or having his cane stolen again? Is that what you want? Your whole family LINE is at stake here, Sly. I would think that you would treat your ancestors with a bit more respect. Me and Carmelita respect your ancestors MORE than you do!" Sly then clenched his fists and spoke,"Of course I don't want him to get hurt! I do care about him, I just think that he can handle himself! He is not a baby, and I am sure that Sir Goof can handle himself without you two following him like fucking babysitters." Carmelita then spoke to Sly in an aggravated tone," You know not for nothing Ringtail, I don't see YOU doing anything for Galleth right now. Why don't you make yourself useful instead of criticizing us for once?" Carmelita then turned to me and spoke,"Emma, let's go. Galleth is already in the cave and I don't want to lose track of him." I nodded. I then took one last look at Sly before I went into the cave. He had his head down, almost as if he was upset. Good. Maybe this will give that idiot some time to think about what a jerk he is being right now.

Me and Carmelita went through the passageways of the cave. Carmelita held her gun in front of her as she walked carefully through the pitch black darkness. I had to admit, I was a tiny bit afraid. I had no idea what to expect at the end of this cavern. Was Galleth really making this "dragon" up? I held onto Carmelita's shoulder. She noticed this and spoke,"It's alright, Emma. I'm right here. There is nothing to be afraid of." She then held her other hand out to me and I took it. We then continued to walk cautiously through the caverns.

We then made our way into a room full of advanced machinery. We made our way up to the top of the platform, after an exhausting climb up. Me and Carmelita then gasped as we saw a ginormous mechanical dragon with three heads in front of us. Oh crap. I could tell this was not going to be a fun time. I then saw Galleth running towards a plug in the wall by the dragon. I tried to run up to catch up to him but I was too slow. Galleth had unplugged the dragon, making the dragon roar to life. Galleth then tried to attack the beast with his sword. The dragon, unfazed by the attack, then ate him whole. Me and Carmelita gasped. Oh my god! I shouted," Galleth!" The robot then turned towards me and Carmelita.Carmelita then shouted,"Alright you tin can of teeth! Let's see what you are REALLY made of!" I then replied," Yea, we aren't scared of you, you rusty piece of scrap metal!" The dragon roared. Carmelita then spoke to me," Alright, Emma aim for the eyes! Once we destroy those the dragon will be done for!" I grabbed the daggers from my bag and threw them at the eyes of the dragons. Carmelita shooted at the eyes with her pistol as well. The dragon threw fiery projectiles at us constantly, which my daggers couldn't deflect. One of them almost got close to hitting me. Carmelita noticed this and shouted," Emma! Go down!" I then ducked as close to the ground as I could. Carmelita then shot at them with her pistol, destroying them. Carmelita then knelt down beside me and spoke," Are you alright, querida?" I spoke to her,"Yea, I'll be okay. Thanks, Caramel. I owe you one." We then continued to attack the dragon mercilessly with all of our strength. Within no time each of the dragons were defeated. Galleth was then released out of the dragon, covered with soot and ash. He then spoke," Alas and alack, I feel as if I have been ground into sausage." Me and Carmelita then ran up to him. Carmelita spoke,"Sir Galleth! Are you hurt?" I then replied," Are any of your bones broken? Are you still able to walk? Quick, How many fingers am I holding up?" Galleth then replied,"Methinks I'm still whole. I thank you, ladies, but I must confess being rescued by two fair damsels wounds me deepest." Carmelita and I looked at each other. Carmelita then spoke," I think we understand. What do you say we make this our little secret?" I then added," Yea, don't worry. We won't tell Sly anything, promise!" Galleth then replied,"I would be thrice grateful and in your debt. What fair and gracious maidens you are Emma and Carmelita." Me and Carmelita chuckled. Carmelita then spoke," I think I like the sound of that. Don't you Emma?" I nodded and spoke," I shall take that as a worthy compliment from our gracious knight." Galleth chuckled. We then made our way back to hideout.

The time finally came to beat Penelope and Bentley still didn't want to face her. I couldn't blame him. I would have felt the same way, but we couldn't give up. We had to defeat her with or without Benny. We all didn't know what to do though. Carmelita tried her best to lead us all. She even tried to use Bentley's computer. We all were sitting around the hideout main table. Carmelita then spoke," Alright everyone listen up! Our goal is to storm that castle and bomb the bridge!" Sly then interrupted," Ok then what are we going to do when we get inside?" Carmelita then spoke," Uh... I don't know! I suppose we will have to improvise." Sly then nodded and spoke," Sounds good to me."

We then made our way in towards the castle. We all rushed through the gate. The Black Kinght was sitting right in front of us. Galleth shouted," I'll sally forth and smash that monstrosity!" We all looked at Galleth and shouted," GALLETH, NO!" The suit then opened up and Penelope then spoke," Why thank you Galleth, I have been looking all over for that!" Penelope then grabbed the cane and gave it to one of the guards. No! I yelled," Penelope, stop!" Penelope then looked at me and her eyes widened. She then spoke,"Emma?! I was looking ALL over for you! Oh my god, thank goodness you are okay! Did Cooper hurt you? Did he brainwash you? Your father has been so worried! We all have! " I spoke," What?! No! I'm not brainwashed! I chose to be with the Coopers. I'm with them now and I am NOT going back to my father." Penelope asked," Why?! The Coopers are freaking losers! They are a bunch of dirty thieves who lie and trick people into joining them for their dirty work! Trust me, I was with them once, Emma. I know they might seem great and 'honorable' now, but after everything is done, they won't care about you. You are better off with us, come home. I will bring you to your father myself and I will make sure you are safe. Please. Joining Cooper will ruin your life." I replied defiantly,"No,and you are wrong about them, Penelope. The Coopers are actually really kind, honorable and selfless people. You know who is the real villains here? You and father! You two are SO wrong about everything and I wish you could just see that!" Penelope rolled her eyes and spoke, My god... they really have brainwashed you. Coopers are not saints, Emma, and you don't belong with them, Emma. I am taking you HOME." I held Carmelita's hand and spoke," I am not going anywhere! The Coopers are my friends and I am NOT going to let you hurt them!" Penelope laughed,"You really are so adorable when you throw your little temper tantrums. Nonetheless, I am not afraid to get the guards over here to bring you to me Emma. So, it's your choice. Oh and dont count on your 'friends' saving you." The gate then suddenly collapsed between us amd Carmelita pushed me and Sly inside. Penelope then went inside gigantic suit and started attacking. Sly climbed up amd starting shooting at her with his bow and arrows. I threw huge daggers with extra sharp blades at the weak spots. Eventually the suit came apart.Penelope shouted," No! Do you have ANY idea what that suit was worth?! It was a fortune! You have cost me too much Cooper, time to pay the fiddler!" We then heard a voice," Penelope stop right now!" Penelope turned her head and spoke, " Bentley?! Is that my moat monster?" Bentley spoke," Penelope, you need to stop. This isn't right, and you know it. Why did you sell yourself to Le Paradox? You are so much better than this!" Penelope rolled her eyes and spoke," I did what was best for me and you. I had to make you realize what an idiot Cooper is! You have so much potential Bentley, dont waste it here! Join us! He would welcome you too no doubt." Benny spoke," I am NOT joining the bad guys Penelope. I'm not an idiot like youwho only thinks about money and glory rather than trust and love." Penelope spoke," The only idiot here is you Bentley. It's time to make this break up official!" Bentley and her then fought as I sat with Sly who was stuck on the helmet of Penelope's tarnished suit. Bentley emerged victorious and he freed Sly from the helmet. Benny spoke," I'm sorry I left you guys. That wont happen again." I spoke," Benny,it's ok.We all need time to heal sometimes. It happens." He nodded.

We then went back to the hideout.


	14. Chapter 14

Emma's PoV:

When we made it back to the hideout we comtacted Dimitri about what we needed to do next. Dimitri started talking about sandy winds and camel spit. As usual, he legit spoke gibberish. It took us like 20 minutes to figure out that the next ancestor of Sly's we needed to rescue was Salim Al Kupar. He lived in Ancient Arabia which meant that we needed to find out how the hell we were gonna even get there. This whole 'need an object from that time period' thing was really starting to stress me out. I hoped there was no more ancestors we needed to save because I legit don't think we have anymore 'relics' that will take us there now. Carmelita then spoke,"Hey guys, I think I have something that can help us get there. I grabbed this at the museum before I was grabbed by the guards." I looked at what she held in her hand. It was a green and gold coin which seemed to be an ancient relic. Bentley took the coin and put it into the machine. Luckily enough, the coin was accurate enough and the machine brought us back to the correct time that we had needed to go to. Me and Carmelita sat in the back of the van with Bentley being in the middle. I looked at him. Bentley seemed completely normal, it was almost as if all of his grief over Penelope never happened. I was so proud of him. Benny was such a fighter and stronger than I could ever be to be honest. I put my hand on his shoulder and spoke," You doing okay, Benny?" Bentley looked at me and smiled. He then replied," I'm feeling better than ever, Emma."

When we arrived at Ancient Arabia we tried to find the 40 thieves that Salim used to work with. We were so happy when we found that out because we knew were finally gonna get some extra muscle onour side for the missions. However, when we had gotten there, we had found out that most of the thieves had retired and were gone. Even worse, no one knew where in god's green earth Salim was. Apparently, no one had seen him for years. I was surprised. Was he in another town? Another country? Did he die? Benny told me that last one probably isn't possible since my father was here, but the other two he said were possibilities.

Eventually, Sly found Salim while roaming about in the town and he brought him back out to the hideout. Salim spoke,"Greetings fellow thieves! Where is the food?" Murray pointed to the bag of food and Salim proceeded to stuff his face. I giggled. And here I thought it was only me and Murray were the only ones who liked to eat. Murray was a little annoyed, since Salim had eaten all of his favorite cake and cookies. We tried to tell Salim that we were actually from the future and that we were time travelers. He didn't believe us, soo Sly had to prove himself to him.

Salim explained to us what had happened to him. Apparently, Mrs. Decibel had been assigned to this area. Oh no. I completely forgot about her. This wasn't going to be fun dealing with. Ugh. She had come into the town throwing money around and this made Salim want to pull a heist on her. However, with her advanced technology she had easily captured his friends and him, thus making the heist a complete failure.

Bentley searched up Mrs. Decibel's background on his computer. She had been raised in a wealthy British family. She had a passion for classical music, but she didn't exactly have the talent for it. That combined with her volatile temper made her get into a freak accident where she had gotten hypnosis powers. When this happened, she had become a worldwide criminal, hypnotizing people to do her bidding. This sounded like a completely different person than the woman I met weeks ago. I shivered. It was scary to think that she had that kind of power.

I winced. She was probably looking for me too. Everyone of my father's lieutenants had tried to take me back to him, but to no avail. She was the last one left for us to defeat and I was anxious. I knew sooner or later we were all going to have to deal with her, and I wasn't mentally prepared yet to be honest.

I was bored, so I figured I would go accompany Sly on his mission on getting Salim's thief outfit back. Me and him grabbed the jewels and thankfully, were able to obtain the outfit. Bentley talked to us through the binocucom," Ok you two, Mrs.Decibel is constantly changing the locations of the thieves. If we could just-Wait! Hold on guys! I'm picking up something! Le Paradox is here right now!" Fuckfuckfuckfuck. Oh my god. It's happening. Why is he here?! Me and Sly hid as fast as we could so him amd Mrs.Decibel couldn't see us. Sly spoke,"Time to do some eavesdropping, haha." Bentley spoke," Follow them you two, and stay out of sight! We could get more info if we listen in." Me and Sly followed my father and Mrs. Decibel, listening to every word they were saying. I was shaking. One wrong move, and I was done for.

Cyrille's PoV:

I was so stressed. I walked alongside Mrs. Decibel and spoke to her,"I can't wait to be done with all of this. I can't wait to finally get back to Paris." Mrs.Decibel then spoke," Cyrille? Is everything all right dear? You seem troubled." No. I wasn't alright. I had lost my precious daughter to those Cooper rats. My little rose...Oh, how I missed her. I had almost forgotten the sound of her beautiful voice and her adorable little laugh. Who knows what those filthy Cooper rats have done to her while I have been gone. I should have done something immediately in Japan. I should have taken her when I had the chance. I didn't understand. Why was she with them?! This was worse than I could've imagined. I continued,"Forgive me. It's just that I am so worried about her, cherie. I have not slept, I have not been able to eat, I have not been able to stop thinking of her. It has been absolutely exhausting. I should have never left her with that idiot. I should have never taken my eyes off of her. Those filthy rats are going to pay for taking her away from me, I will have them all executed and tortured for this!" Mrs. Decibel then turned to me and spoke,"I'm sorry you are feeling so upset dearest. I miss her too. It has definitely been bleaker without her here, I must say. Those Cooper hoodlums have done quite enough! My guards will be on the watch for her. I shall even look for her myself!" I sighed. I will believe it when it actually happens. Nothing seems to get done around here unless I do it. I turned to her and spoke,"Please tell your guards that if they do not find my daughter or capture Cooper, I will have them fired and executed." Mrs. Decibel nodded. I spoke again," Also

please tell me everything is going according to plan. I am not in the mood for anymore delays." Mrs Decibel beamed and spoke," Of course! Everything is progressing splendidly!" I smiled and replied," Magnifique! So I should have those papers very soon? No?" Mrs. Decibel then spoke," Well I hate to trouble you, dear, but there is one teensy favor I need from you. Our little worker bees are running out of supplies and I need them in order to continue progress." I rolled my eyes. I really didn't want to deal with this right now. I then spoke," Fine. I shall send a delivery boy. Anything else?" She then spoke," I think that will be all dearest." Thank god. Once I have those papers my wealth and power will be unstoppable, no one will be able to get in my way ever again. As for Emma, she will learn soon enough where her rightful place is, and this will NEVER be happening again. I have already lost my father and my wife...I do not want to think of what I would do if I lost my only daughter too. She truly is so much like her mother, which made this even more painful to deal with. I sighed. I knew I would see her again, I just didn't know exactly when. Those Coopers are always leaving behind footprints, and I will admit they are quite fast. Fortunately, I am faster. I will track her myself and she will be by my side again, whether she likes it or not. All of those filthy Coopers will be nothing but a fragment of the past once this is done.

Emma's PoV:

This wasn't good. Father is trying to make forgeries? What?! Why the hell would he do something like that?! More importantly, what is going to happen if he DOES get what he wants. We needed to stop him, and we needed to do it soon. Time was literally of the essence. However, there was nothing we could do RIGHT at this second. I told Bentley I needed to get some air for a little bit. He told me to be careful and to tell them when I got back or when I got in trouble.

I walked around the town to clear my head. It was too much to handle for me right now. I just needed to destress for the moment. I found a spot by the seaside and sat. I looked up at the stars. It really was so beautiful here at night. It was currently around 9pm. Perfect time to stargaze. I hummed. I then started to sing gently and quietly. It had been a little lullaby my mother had always sang to me when I was a little girl. I closed my eyes. I then suddenly heard Carmelita's voice behind me," You have such a beautiful voice, Emma.You should sing more often." I was a bit startled. I was also a little embarrassed. I never usually sang in front of people. I would always sing to Marina in my room a lot, she was the only one I could sing freely to without being embarrassed. I don't even think my father knows that I can sing, which is a blessing because I would be so mortified haha. I then thought about Marina. I had totally forgotten about her. I wondered if she was doing okay. I then replied," I...uh, thank you. I usually don't sing around others. I'm very self-conscious about that." Carmelita giggled and spoke,"What is there to be self conscious about? It's absolutely beautiful querida." I blushed a little. I then spoke," Wait, how did you know I was out here?" She then walked towards me and spoke," Bentley told me you were in the town relaxing, so I figured I would join you. Mind if I sit down?" I shook my head. She then spoke again,"It really is such a beautiful night tonight. I would have never thought to sit here had you not done it to be honest." I then replied,"It's even better when you look up." Carmelita then turned her head up and gazed at the sky. She spoke in complete awe," They truly are even more beautiful here than in Paris." I hummed again. Carmelita then spoke," Would you mind singing a song for me? I am sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, you dont have to, I just love hearing you. I nodded. I then replied," It's ok, I don't mind, as long as it is just you that listens haha. You have any specific song you would like to hear?" She shook her head and spoke," Whatever you want, querida." I thought for a moment. I then picked Fireflies by Owl City to sing. It seemed to be a nice song for right now. I started to sing,"_You would not believe your eyes if ten million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep. Cause they'd fill up the open air and leave teardrops everywhere, You'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare..."_

I stopped singing after awhile. Carmelita then spoke,"Thank you for singing to me. I appreciate you being able to sing to me." She kissed me on my lips. I giggled and blushed. She was so cute. I then spoke,"Anytime, Caramel. I would do anything for you."

We then suddenly heard an accented voice behind me,"Your voice is as beautiful as your mother's, cherie. I wish you would sing for me more. It was so lovely to listen to." Mrs Decibel then replied to him,"Truly. You have such a marvelous tone." We whipped our heads around so fast and my heart froze. It was none other than my father with Mrs Decibel right behind him. Oh no. Oh my GOD. My heart beated so fast. I was so scared. What do I fucking do?! I looked at Carmelita. She looked as shocked and startled as I was. I then spoke,"F-father? What are you...doing here?! How did you know I was here?!" My father chuckled and then replied,"I was simply strolling through the town and then I heard your lovely voice. I couldn't help but listen." Carmelita had her hand on her pistol. Following her lead I grabbed a couple daggers from my bag and kept them behind me. My father continued,"What are you doing with the Coopers? More importantly, what are you doing with the Interpol shrew?" Carmelita gritted her teeth. I ignored the question and spoke," Dad I'm not going home." My father looked at my hands and replied,"Cherie, what is the matter? Why do you not want to come home?" I sighed and spoke,"I don't want to talk to you right now."

My father frowned and his eyes were filled with concern. He put my hands in his and spoke gently," Talk to me sweetheart, please. I have been so worried about you. Why have you ran away from me? Is there something wrong?" Tears ran down my cheeks. Carmelita looked at me and held my hand. My father noticed this and glared at her. He then tried to pull me into his arms but I went towards Carmelita instead. She wiped away my tears with her hand. My father spoke,"Why do you cry, dearest? Who is responsible for this? I will make them wish they were never even born!" I looked up at him and spoke,"You are." His eyes widened and he had an incredulous look on his face and spoke," Moi?! I do not understand. What have I done to make you so upset?" I spoke," For most of my life you locked me away from the world and kept me away from others. You also lied to me about the Coopers AND about your criminal history. You have been lying to me my whole entire life and I'm sick of it. The Coopers are my friends and they dont deserve what you are doing to them." My father rolled his eyes and replied,"You really think those idiotic Coopers care for you?! They have lied to you! They only want you because you are of my blood! Once they get what they want from you they will leave you to rot and you will never hear from them again. Trust me, cherie. I have lived in this cruel world longer than you. I have seen it all before. Cooper is no different than the murderers and other criminals." I backed away from him and spoke," No. You're wrong! How could you even say those things about him?! I'm not listening to you anymore. I'm a part of the Cooper gang now and there is NOTHING that you will do or say that will change my mind." My father sighed and spoke,"Why must you be so difficult, sweetheart? I have tried my hardest to protect you and keep you safe. I have raised you to the best of my ability and THIS is what I get? I'm disappointed in you, cherie. You know better. Your rightful place is at MY side and you have always known that. Stop with these games. I am tired of all of this! You are not and never will be a Cooper! You are a Le Paradox!" I clenched my fists. I was getting angrier by each passing second. He continued," No matter how long you stay with these filthy, mangy, flea-bitten rats, it will never change the fact that you are mine!" I looked down. The tears started to run faster down my face. As usual, my father never listens and he never understands me. I was a part of the Cooper gang, that meant that I was their ally and their friend. He spoke," Come home, Emma. I beg of you. I truly do care about your future and I only want what is best for you. I love you, I always have, despite what you may believe in that tiny mind of yours." I picked a dagger from my bag and spoke slowly,"I don't believe you. Go fuck yourself." My father's eyes widened and he spoke," What did you just say?" I then shouted angrily,"GO FUCK YOURSELF! For years I have always done what you wanted and I have NEVER been happy! I'm finally free from your stupid legacy and family and I don't ever want to change that!" Carmelita gasped Mrs.Decibel gasped. Mrs. Decibel then scolded me," Emma! Apologize to your father right now! That was completely disrepectful and unladylike! Who has taught you this absolutely horrid language?!"

My father then spoke angrily,"Emmaline Mirielle Le Paradox! How DARE you say that to me! I have had just about ENOUGH of this attitude of yours young lady! You are going to take that back right now or so help me I will ground you for a year!" I then shouted as I took Carmelita's hand and ran as fast as I could,"Sorry! Not happening!" As we ran I could hear my father yelling my name in the distance.

When we both got back to the hideout I shut the door as fast as I could and locked it.That was WAY too close for comfort. Bentley, Sly, and Murray looked at us with worried expressions. Sly then spoke with concern,"Are you guys alright? What happened?" I looked at him and spoke," We almost got caught by my father and Mrs. Decibel. Don't ask me how, I don't know." Bentley thought for a moment," Did a guard see you? Maybe one of them alerted Mrs Decibel." Carmelita then spoke," We were just sitting and Emma was singing, we were far away from the guards." Sly then spoke," That is really weird. Was it a pure coincidence? Did they happen to see you or hear you?" I looked at him and spoke," That's what my dad said, but I didnt know if he was lying or not. We were scared shitless though. I also told my dad to go fuck himself to his face." Sly's eyes widened and then he started to laugh. He then spoke,"You actually did that?! That's hardcore buttercup. You got guts. In all seriousness though, I'm glad you two are safe. That would have been a real problem if you two got caught." Bentley facepalmed. He then spoke," Are you sure you weren't followed? Did they put a tracking device on you that we don't know about?" I shook my head and I sat down. The one time I go out into the town and I almost get caught. It was fun for a little bit of time at least. I then spoke," Well, I suppose we should all get to bed. It is getting late."I put on my pjs and got into bed. Carmelita got into bed besides me. She noticed my worried expression, she put her hand on my shoulder and spoke,"I can't believe you actually said that to your father. He is going to murder you." I replied,"It was worth it. For so long he has never listened to me and what I wanted. Now he knows what I want." Carmelita giggled and snuggled next to me. I then closed my eyes after awhile and fell asleep.


	15. Chapter 15

Cyrille's PoV:

I was absolutely furious. How dare she do this to me! It was bad enough that she ran off with those hoodlums, but now she has the AUDACITY to insult me?! Ungrateful child! Those Coopers are the reason for this horrible behavior. She was so obedient before any of this. Sure she had her little tantrums but they were few and controllable when they had happened. I was pacing back and forth in my office anxiously. Where were those pathetic guards?! They should have been here by now! There was a knock on the door. I spoke,"Who is it?" The voices replied," It's us sir." I then opened the door immediately and let them into the room. I then spoke,"Well?? I'm waiting." The guard then spoke,"We...uhm...didn't find her sir, but we did find this." They then

gave me a small necklace with a green jewel in the front. I looked at the necklace. I recognized its features. It was the one that I had given to Emma when she was only a child. I frowned and held the necklace tightly to my chest. The guards looked at me nervously and they then spoke,"We lost track of her sir. We did the best we could." I then

spoke angrily, not able to hold in my anger and frustration any longer,"YOU IDIOTS! HOW COULD YOU LOSE HER?! I GIVE YOU ONE SIMPLE JOB AND YOU CAN'T EVEN ACCOMPLISH IT! I SHOULD HAVE YOU EXECUTED!" The guards then frantically begged and pleaded,"Please sir! Have mercy! We are deeply sorry for this! we meant no disrespect!" Mrs Decibel then put her hand on my shoulder and spoke," Sweetie, please calm down. We aren't going to accomplish anything with you yelling like a madman." I regained my composure and took a deep breath. I then spoke,"Just keep a very close eye on what is going on around you. If you see her, you are to capture her and bring her STRAIGHT to me. Understand?" The guards nodded. I then spoke," Good. You are dismissed."

I went over to my chair and put my head in my hands and sighed. I then spoke,"What am I going to do with that child? It seems like I can't even control her anymore. She never listens to me, and she refuses in carrying my legacy. Why does she hate me? I have given her everything her little heart has desired for years...yet even when I give her everything she can never seem to be happy with me. Is there something wrong with me? Am I a bad father?" Mrs Decibel then comforted him," Oh Cyrille, she is just at that age. Those horrible teenage years. I am sure that she will grow out of it over time. Until then, we all must deal with it for now. Most parents would do the same as you, dearest. You are not horrible by any means, in terms of parenting." I sighed. I then spoke,"I just don't want to lose her. I have always wanted a daughter, and now that I have one... I can't seem to keep her. I do not know if I mentioned, but, I never had a father, cherie. My mother had always told me about him, and that kept me going as a child. It was painful though. I had always longed to have a father, even to this day. I don't want my daughter to go through not having a father for the rest of her life like I did. I want to be there in her life, always. I wish to protect her from anything." Mrs. Decibel sighed and then spoke,"Have patience, dearest. She will come home soon enough. You will be a father again in no time. Emma is just going through a phase. You have to stay firm with her, no matter what happens." I looked at the necklace in my hand. I then spoke," I will NOT be the end of my legacy. Emma will take on my work, whether she likes it or not. I will have no more of this 'rebellious' attitude, or love of Coopers. So help me god, I will make her understand that. Even if I have to kill those cursed Coopers to do it." She will not be escaping from me so easily next time we meet, mark my words. It is time for this little game of hers to end, and for her to finally become who she is truly meant to be.

Emma's PoV:

_I was standing next to Sly__. He looked at me with a worried expression on his face. I was confused. What was he worried about? I then looked in front of him and I saw my father. He had his sword in his hand, preparing to fight. I got in front of Sly, and screamed," Father! Stop!" My father didn't hear me. He unsheathed his blade and Sly the same with his cane. He spoke,"It's time for you to die, Cooper. I shall cherish this day, as it shall mark the dawn of my legacy, and the end of your pathetic one. Haha!" My eyes widened. I screamed at him again,"I said STOP! Can't you hear me? Father?!" I then took a dagger out of my bag and seeing no other alternative, I ran up to him and used the dagger to hurt him. My father touched the cut that I had given him on his face with my dagger. He had blood on his gloves. He then glared at me and violently knocked the dagger out of my hand and grabbed me with a very tight grip. I struggled out of his grasp. I yelled at him,"Let me go! Get off of me!" Sly then yelled," EMMA! Get away from her!" My father cackled. He then spoke," Over my dead body COOPER! Haha!" Sly then ran towards him at full speed and tried hitting him with his cane. My father dodged his attacks easily and laughed. Seeing an opening, Sly then hit him knocking his grasp of me off. I fell to the ground. Sly then tried to grab me. He spoke frantically,"Are you alright?! Emma?!" I then tried to speak, when all of a sudden Sly screamed. My father yelled," GOODBYE COOPER!" He then had tears in his eyes. My father had stabbed him in his abdomen. Tears started to well in my eyes. Sly then looked at my crying eyes and spoke gently in short breaths," Emma...this is. Not your fault. Promise...me...you will escape from here...please go." He then fell on the ground motionless. The last thing I saw was my father holding his sword which now had blood dripping from it. He then looked at me with a smug smile._

I screamed. I woke up suddenly in a sweat. Carmelita then was suddenly woken up next to me and spoke frantically ," Emma?! Are you alright?" Tears then started to well in my eyes. She noticed this and held me close. I then cried into her chest. She asked," Was it another nightmare?" I then spoke," Carmelita...it was about my father and Sly." Carmelita then spoke,"What happened?" I then spoke," Father he...he..." I couldn't even finish the sentence without wanting to cry my eyes out. Carmelita then put her hand on my back. I then continued,"...he murdered Sly."Carmelita gasped. She then spoke," Emma, I'm so sorry. That sounds horrible. Do you want me to get you a glass of water?" I shook my head, and spoke,"No, thank you. I just really am worried about him. I feel like Sly really just doesn't understand my father like I do. My father is cruel and ruthless. He will stop at nothing to kill Sly, I am absolutely sure." Carmelita then sighed and replied,"I know. I'm worried about him too. Le paradox is a very dangerous criminal. I fear that Sly is underestimating his power and determination in all of this. I'm also worried about you too, Emma." I looked at her and spoke," Me? Why do you feel that way about me?" Carmelita then spoke as-a-matter-of-factly,"Emma, you are having nightmares and you are constantly anxious. I think the question should be who WOULDN'T be worried about you." I then laid my head down on the pillow and closed my eyes. I then spoke," As always, you are absolutely right. Ugh. I have no idea what I'm gonna do about my father. I don't even know what is the way for me to go. Is it better to stay with Cooper or to just suck it up and go home?" Carmelita then spoke," Emma, you do what is best for you. What does your heart say?" I thought for a moment. I then spoke,"I want to be with you. I mean and Sly and the others are awesome, but I also want to be yours. I know you are a cop, and you probably wouldn't let me hang out with them after this, but still." Carmelita then chuckled,"Let you? Emma, you are an adult, first of all. Second of all, I am confident that you will not be a terrible person hanging out with Sly. Sure he is an idiot, but he is an idiot with a good heart and I respect him now. " I then looked at clock," It was 4am. I groaned. I didn't know what I want to do to be honest. I guess the answers will come to me in time. For now, I just wanted to go back to sleep and to not have any more nightmares.


	16. Chapter 16

Emma's PoV:

Bentley tried to talk to us about his newest plan for getting us into the big door. He spoke," Alright guys, so to get past these guards we are gonna need a distraction. I figured that Carmelita in a belly outfit would be the best tactic for this." Me and Carmelita looked at each other. I then spoke," Bentley, are you fucking serious right now?" Bentley then sighed and spoke,"Look, this our best shot at distracting those huge guards." Sly then spoke," Possibly your best plan ever Bentley." I groaned and then spoke,"Benny, did you think of ANY other plans or were you just lazy? I know I am not the tactician here, but THIS sounds like a very not well thought out plan." Murray then spoke," Uh guys, I can totally pull this off. Silk is very elastic, you know." Carmelita sighed and spoke irritated,"Fine! I'll do it. But for the record, you owe me BIG TIME for this Bentley."

I was really worried about Carmelita. I didn't want her to be alone, especially in a disguise like this. I mean granted, she was a cop and I am sure she could handle defending herself. However, that didn't make me feel any better about her being alone in a belly dancer outfit. We all sat by the entrance to the door. Bentley then spoke," Alright, Carmelita, you're up." Sly then spoke," Yea, bust a move Carmelita." Carmelita then glared at him and spoke with her fist raised," How about I bust your face, Cooper!"Sly winced for a second. Carmelita then walked out towards the guards. Sly, Bentley, and Murray made their way towards the door. I stayed where I was. Sly then turned his head behind him and spoke to me,"Emma? Come on we got to get the door open." I looked at Carmelita dancing in front of the guards and spoke,"I am gonna stay and watch over Carmelita. I don't want her to get hurt or worse." Carmelita then glanced at me. Sly then replied,"Are you sure? We could use your help out here, there is no need for you to be with Carmelita."I then spoke," I don't know, Sly. I just have a bad feeling about all of this. I don't want you or Carmelita getting hurt." Sly then put his hand on my shoulder. He then spoke," Be careful, Buttercup. Oh, and before I forget again, here's this." He then took out a necklace out of his pocket. My eyes widened. It was a blue necklace with his family's insignia on the front. I then spoke,"Sly...it's beautiful, but I don't deserve this." He then spoke,"You are a member of the Cooper gang now, so I figured it was only fair to give you a gift from me. Bentley and Murray have their belts, and now you your necklace. I then spoke," I...Sly, thank you." He then replied happily,"Anytime, buttercup. I'm always gonna be here for you and so are Bentley and Murray. Whenever you feel scared, just remember that the three of us are with you, always." I teared up a little and then hugged him tightly. He smiled and spoke," Meet me outside the door when Carmelita is done. Ok?" I nodded and spoke," Okay. Be careful out there, Slushie." Sly then spoke to me,"Same to you, buttercup." He then walked out the door.

I hid in the back by the columns and watched Carmelita. For awhile, nothing happened. I was relieved, because I was really worried that something was gonna happen. Carmelita danced so gracefully. She was such a vibrant dancer. I would love to dance with her sometime.

Then all of a sudden a beeping sound broke me out of my thoughts. I looked to see where the sound was coming from. I then saw a gas cannister on the ground by Carmelita. I lunged towards Carmelita and grabbed her to get her out of harm's way. We then fell to the ground as the cannister then exploded. Carmelita started coughing and spoke in short breaths,"Em...Emma. I can't...I think I'm going to..." Carmelita then gasped and leaned on me. I held her in my arms. I then spoke,"I got you. Sweetie, just hold on to me. I'm gonna get us out of here." Carmelita nodded and then fell into my arms. I could tell she was about to faint, her eyes were closing and it seemed that she had no more strength left in her. I then picked her up bridal style and started running towards the outside of the building. The masked guards noticed this and started running after me. I didn't look back or stop for anything. I then saw the door to the outside coming up in front of me and I picked up my running speed. Almost there! I then saw a guard from the outside suddenly come up in front of me and yelled at me,"FREEZE!" I gasped. I then looked behind me and saw the masked guards that were chasing me start to come closer. I felt my heart beat faster. I then threw one of my daggers towards the guards, making them lose focus for a couple minutes. I then used this time to finally escape to the outside of the building where I went to go hide behind an old rug store. I then sat down and put Carmelita down besides me, gently. She was still out cold. Oh, my love... I'm so sorry... but at least you are safe now. I then heard the guards voices shouting,"WHERE DID SHE GO?!" Another guard responded to him,"SHE CAN'T HAVE GONE FAR! SEARCH EVERYWHERE!" When I couldn't hear their footsteps anymore I took in a deep breath.

I took out my binocucom and tried to contact Bentley. Bentley then responded," Emma? Where are you?! Is

everything okay?" I then spoke,"Bentley, the guards ambushed me and Carmelita. We escaped, thankfully,but Carmelita passed out. Also, the town is swarming with guards right now." Bentley then spoke,"Oh dear god. Do you need us to come?" I then spoke,"I don't know! What should I do Benny?? I'm so scared about the guards catching me." Bentley then spoke," Calm down, Emma, you are gonna be okay. You need to get Carmelita back to the hideout, she is probably going to be unconscious for an hour or two. That gas is very powerful, as I'm sure you know better then I do. Put on a disguise from the guards or something, and get back to the hideout as fast as you can. Call me back when you get there, ok?" I then replied," Alright, Benny. I'm on it."

I saw one of the female guards and snuck up behind her. I knocked her out with a piece of metal that I found and put on her outfit. I then, after what seemed like forever, made it back to the hideout. I went inside and locked the door. I then laid Carmelita down on one of the couches. I then opened my binocucom and spoke,"Benny? I'm at the hideout. How's it going there?" Bentley then responded,"Not very good. I have to go Emma, give Carmelita some water or juice when she gets up. That should make her feel better." I hung up my binocucom and sat down besides Carmelita. She was starting to stir. I went up to go get a glass of water for her. I sat back down besides her and put a cold wet cloth on her head. Carmelita then opened her eyes, slowly and spoke,"E...Emma? Wh...where am I?"I replied," We are at the hideout, Carmelita. Don't worry, you're safe now." Carmelita groaned and tried to sit up, but promptly laid back down. She spoke,"Ugh...my head. I feel so dizzy." I then replied," You are gonna feel that way for a little bit. Just relax sweetie." Carmelita then smiled and closed her eyes again. She spoke softly,"Thank you...Emma."I sighed. It made me feel terrible seeing her get this sick. Thank god I was there to protect her. I hated to think about what would have happened had I not been there. I wonder how Sly, Benny, and Murray are doing right now. I hope they are okay, too.

Sly's PoV:

Bentley successfully hacked the system for the security. Me and Murray then started to walk through the lazer beams. We then heard an alarm and all of a sudden the lazers came back on. Me and Murray looked at each other. I then spoke to Bentley," Uh...Bentley? What the hell just happened?" Bentley then replied," I don't know, Sly. It must be some fail safe security. I will try to fix it." Guards then suddenly swarmed us and we attacked them mercilessly. When we defeated the guards we saw Le paradox in front of us. He spoke,"Ah! If isn't the three musketeers! One step behind as usual! May you never change." I rolled my eyes. I wanted to punch him in his face for all of this. With his stupid smug smile and crappy moustache. My mind then wandered to Emma and Carmelita. I hope they were okay. I then spoke,"And may you always stay downwind!" Cyrille rolled his eyes and spoke,"Ah Cooper, you're so pathetic! You don't even realize you have already LOST!" I clenched my teeth. I can't believe Emma lived her whole life with this asshole, I felt so bad for her to be honest. I then spoke to him," We haven't lost yet, shithead!" He then looked at me with a doubtful look on his face," Oh no? Bonjour my large friend! What took you so long?" I then turned my head to see who he was referring to and I saw none other than Mrs. Decibel currently holding Salim. Oh my fucking god. He was so bruised and wounded. I was horrified. I yelled," SALIM!" Mrs Decibel then spoke cheerfully,"Hello, Cyrille! I found this filthy old scoundrel unconscious outside." Cyrille put his head in his hands and spoke," Actually, he is yesterday's trash. Precisely why I threw him away." Mrs Decibel then looked at him with a very confused expression on her face," I...I don't understand? I thought you were after them?!" Cyrille sighed and spoke, frustrated,"You're right, you DON'T understand! I don't give a damn about that old bag of bones, JUST his cane! Which as you can see... I already have!" Bentley then facepalmed and spoke,"Oh shit." Cyrille then spoke again,"And Cooper, I would love to know where you hoodlums are keeping my daughter. I even have an offer for you! If you would be so kind as to tell me where she is I will CONSIDER giving you his cane back." I gritted my teeth and spoke,"Hah! In your dreams, asshole! I ain't telling you where she is no matter what you do to me!"Cyrille sighed and frowned,"Hm. Well, then, I can see I am going to have to do this the hard way. What a shame. I really thought you wanted these canes back. No matter. Once I get back to Paris you will be nothing but a faded memory and I shall be glorious!" I laughed and spoke," We'll see about that!" He then rolled his eyes. Mrs. Decibel then spoke," Sweetie! Can I please come aboard now? I really don't want to be surrounded by these hoodlums anymore!" He then replied," So sorry dear. But with Monsieur Cooper here I must leave now. I can not risk that flea bitten rat ruining my plans." I narrowed my eyes. What did that fucker just call me?? I swear to god when I get my hands on him I am gonna break his neck! Mrs Decibel then dropped Salim and ran towards the blimp. She cried out,"Cyrille! Wait!" He then spoke to her,"Cherie, Destroy him and make sure that he is not able to get in our way again! Then you can come in!" Mrs. Decibel then glared at me and spoke,"My pleasure! Haha!" My eyes widened and I grabbed my cane. No way was I gonna lose to this snob.

I had to admit, her attacks were tricky for me to dodge. Usually I could evade with such ease, but not this time. I then approached a chain link that I couldn't slash with my time slower cane, so I took out my scimitar and swung it into the chain. It then broke and I was able to go ahead to the next area. I then heard Le Paradox's voice from above," Love the sword! When you're dead, I shall add it to my collection! Haha!" I replied,"Fat chance!" He then replied," I can hardly wait to get my hands on your cane too!" I then spoke tauntingly,"Why don't you come over here and I can give it to you PERSONALLY!" He then replied,"How lovely! While you are at it, you can give me back my daughter too!" I gritted my teeth. I was really getting tired of his snippy remarks. I then shouted," Get a clue, Cyrille! She doesn't want to go back! She told me herself! You are a fucking idiot if you still think that I 'brainwashed' or 'kidnapped' her! Why don't you actually do the right thing for once and just let her go!" Cyrille then groaned and replied, with an irritated tone in his voice,"Can't you just die already?! I'm getting tired of this. Cherie, can you PLEASE wrap this up soon? I'm starting to get a headache from this annoying chatter of his!" Mrs Decibel then spoke," I'm trying Dearest!" Then, with another whack of my cane, I defeated her. Mrs.Decibel then slid off the blimp and grabbed onto the rope besides the windows. She shouted," Cyrille! Open the hatch! Let me in!" He replied," So sorry cherie, but I'm afraid we already reached maximum weight capacity. So, yes. Thank you so much for my papers, but it wouldn't have worked out between us. I'm just not into big noses and as for your music... hm...how can I put this delicately...ah yes! It stinks worse than I do! Haha!" Mrs Decibel then shouted," Why you filthy backstabbing two timing scoundrel! How DARE YOU!" Cyrille then laughed," Flattery will get you nowhere! And as for YOU, Cooper, don't even think about following me, or I assure you, I am not afraid to injure you! Au revoir!"

Bentley then spoke," He has the documents, Sly!" I spoke," Yea, I know that. There is nothing I can do now. We need to worry about getting Mrs.Decibel back to prison."

Emma's PoV:

I hadn't heard from any of them in 2 hours. I was starting to get worried. Had my father gotten them? Were they hurt? My mind raced. I didn't want to leave the hideout. It had taken all of my strength to get back here and to escape. I definitely didn't want to leave Carmelita like this alone either. I then heard a knock at the door. Oh nononononono. Was it a guard?! My anxiety increased. I grabbed my daggers as I slowly walked to the door. I looked through the door hole, and it was none other than Sly! An instant wave of relief came over me and I opened the door as fast as I could. I then hugged him tightly.


	17. Chapter 17

Emma's PoV:

Sly, Murray, and Bentley looked so depressed. Sly was sitting down and staring at his cane. Murray had no appetite for once. Sly spoke to me,"How have you two been? Are you guys hurt?" I replied,"No, we aren't. Carmelita passed out because of the poisonous gas attack by the guards. I was lucky, however. I was able to get her out of there just in time." He looked at Carmelita. She was sitting on the couch and slowly drinking some water. Sly then spoke,"Ugh. That didn't sound like fun. But, I can assure you that you were not missing out on anything on our end." I spoke,"what happened?" Sly then spoke,"Well, basically, your father decided to pay us a visit and he took Salim's cane. I defeated Mrs.Decibel, but it hardly matters.Your father has ALL of my ancestor's canes now and a fake pedigree! I have no fucking idea how we are gonna get them back! Ughhh!" Sly put his head in his hands. I put my hand on his shoulder," Sly..I...I'm so, so sorry. I should have been there, I should have helped you. I feel as if this would have never happened had I been there!" Bentley then spoke to me,"Emma, you protected Carmelita and prevented her getting kidnapped or hurt. You also defended yourself from that too. That is a huge help to us in itself." I sighed and replied,"I know but, still...I feel terrible. Yet again my father gets away with doing terrible things to you guys. It's not fair!" Sly then spoke,"No, it isn't fair. But then again, I should have expected as much from someone who hates my family more than anything. BUT that is not going to stop us! Don't you worry. We are going to fix all of this soon enough, because we are Coopers! And Coopers NEVER give up!" I smiled and hugged him. I then spoke,"It's great to have you back, Slushie." Sly then chuckled and spoke,"It's great to have you back too, Buttercup."

We tried contacting Dimitri to see what was going on in the future. Dimitri was freaking out when we talked to him. He was saying something about my father having control of the entire city and my heart stopped. This was not good. We all got into the van as soon as we got done talking to Dimitri and got our asses back to Paris.

When we got back to Paris my father's face completely covered the city. He legit was in control of every single fucking person and thing right now and it made me really uncomfortable. I held onto Carmelita. She looked as freaked out about this as I was. I could tell deep down she was full of uncertainty about all of this. I couldn't believe this was even happening right now. It felt like some strange nightmare that I couldn't wake up from. Sly legit cringed when we passed statues of him. I couldn't help but feel sorry for Sly. I know he didn't show it on the outside, but I could tell he was scared. Bentley was searching up my father's background on his computer and apparently he was able to dig up some dirt about my grandfather. Apparently, my grandpa was trying to frame Sly's dad for his huge jewel heist. What ended up happening, was my grandpa getting caught by the police and being in prison for life. Because grandpa wasn't around when my dad was a kid, my father had no one to teach him the family business. So, as you can guess, my dad went to jail instantly. But in prison, he apparently got a criminal education, and it was here where he was able to form a crime syndicate. When he got released out of jail, not too long after I was born, he started to plan on killing Sly and his family. I...didn't know how to feel. A part of me was a bit nauseous, knowing that this whole 'hatred of Cooper' thing was not new in my family. Father had always told me that grandpa died because he was WRONGLY accused of a crime by Cooper. Nice to know that wasn't true. At this point, it would be safe to assume that everything my father told me was probably a damn lie, and I was pissed. How could he lie to me about my own heritage like this?! I'm low key happy I don't have a good knowledge of my ancestors to be honest. They were probably all pieces of shit, just like my grandpa and my father. I knew we had to stop him, but I had to admit...I was a little scared. This was going to be it. The big moment. The end of his terror or the beginning of my terrible future. I hoped to dear god that the latter would NEVER come true.

Bentley then spoke to us," Alright guys, this is our last chance at stopping Le paradox! We all need to be super careful and precise about all of this. One misstep could ruin the entire plan! Sly I'm assuming that your ancestor's canes are being held somewhere near the docking area of his ship. You should probably enter through there. Me and Murray are going to try and get some help." I looked at Bentley and spoke,"What about me Benny?" Bentley looked at me and said nothing at first. He then spoke sadly,"Emma...I...I have no idea what you should do. You could tag along with Sly, but I don't know...it could be dangerous. You could stick with me and Murray if you would like? It's up to you." I thought for a bit. I then decided that I really didn't want Sly going to face my father alone. Who knows what my father had in store for him. I then spoke," I am gonna stick with Sly. I want to make sure he is okay in there." Bentley then replied,"Alright,but be very careful in there Emma. Stay with Sly no matter what." I replied,"Got it, Benny. What about you Carmelita?" Carmelita then spoke," I will go with you and Sly. I will make sure you guys are okay."

When me, Sly, and Carmelita finally got into the ship we were greeted by one of the ancestor's canes just...sitting in front of us. Unguarded, unlocked, and unharmed. It was too perfect. It was so OBVIOUSLY a trap. Sly then spoke,"Wow a free cane that is unguarded? It must be my birthday!" Carmelita then spoke,"Enough with the jokes Ringtail! Now how are we going to do this?" Sly then spoke," Alright ladies. On the count of three, we are all going to walk around the cane and try and get through it." Me and Carmelita looked at each other. We honestly didn't know what to think, so we followed his lead. We all then walked slowly through the darkness. All of a sudden we heard an alarm, and then suddenly a green glass was put around Sly and Carmelita, imprisoning them. I gasped and shouted," Sly! Carmelita! NO!" I then heard my father's voice from behind me,"Two rats in one trap! As I said before, you are so predictable, Cooper!" Sly then yelled at him,"How's this for a prediction? I'm going to kick those stripes off of your fucking ass!" My father then laughed and spoke,"Ah, and here comes the tiny threats from the little man! As I said, predictable." Sly then spoke,"There is no where to run Cyrille! We all have stopped your other plans! You are done! You might as well give up now!" He then replied to Sly, ignoring his comment," Ah alone at last! How cozy!"

Carmelita then snapped back angrily,"You want cozy?! I'm going to lock you and all of your friends in the SAME prison cell!" He then replied," Ah, but no... it is the two of you of whom I thinking...to be together, forever! Just think of it as the most romantic coffin ever!" I growled. I had it up to here with my father's shit. I couldn't handle staying silent anymore and I shouted,"DAD! STOP!" My father turned towards me sharply and smiled at me. He then spoke,"Why hello there, cherie! I have missed you so much, sweetheart. I'm absolutely thrilled to see you! Once I get Cooper out of the way, we are going to celebrate! I even picked out a dress for you to wear for the event! I know how much you love pink, so I made sure that it was your favorite shade!" I winced. Celebrating Sly's and Carmelita's death? I felt sick to my stomach. I spoke,"Dad...I...I need to talk to you. Please. Like a real father- daughter talk." My father then sighed and spoke again,"Can it wait til after I have disposed of these two nuisances??"I then replied," No! I won't let you hurt my best friend and my girlfriend!" My father's eyes then widened and he spoke,"Your...girlfriend?? Please tell me this is a joke." I then spoke,"Nope! It is the real deal, Dad! We are gonna get married and be together forever!" My father replied,"Hahahaha! Oh cherie! Don't make me laugh! You really think this Interpol SHREW cares for you?! Come now, dearest. You are smarter than that!" Carmelita looked at me. I returned her gaze and looked at her with concern. I then looked back at my father and spoke angrily,"YES! I do! I am really in love with her father! And there is NOTHING you can say or do that is going to change that! I am so tired of you telling me who to love and who to hate! Why can't you just let me be free to make my own choices?! I guess you can't understand that because you DON'T LOVE ME!" My father then spoke,"Quoi?! Did Cooper tell you to say these abhorrent things to me?! I love you more than anything in this world, dearest. In fact, I am doing this BECAUSE of how much I love you! Please, all I ask is that you listen to me, my little flower. This Carmelita, she would sooner torture you for information about my doings then entertain this silly 'relationship' of yours." I replied,"Father...please! I don't want to argue with you anymore! Just let them go! If you do then I...I...I will go back to you." Carmelita gasped and spoke,"My love! No!" Sly then yelled at me,"Emma, NO! We aren't worth it!" I spoke to Sly,"Sly, I have to do this! There is no other way that you guys will be freed!" My father then spoke,"Hmm. I may consider this...Iyou promise to not run off again and to be forever obedient to me." I looked at Carmelita and Sly again. They looked at me sadly. I sighed and spoke,"You have my word." He then replied,"That's my girl. A wise decision, cherie." Tears started to come down my face. I spoke,"Now, let them go!" My father then spoke,"As soon as you come up here dearest. I would hate for you to get away again and break our promise." One of the metal claws then came towards me, and I grabbed onto them, reluctantly. I then let go of them when I got to the platform my father was on. I then walked up to my father. I spoke," Father...please let them go. That's all I ask." He then pulled me close to him. I winced. Sly noticed this and glared at him. He then changed spoke,"Why did you do it Cyrille? Why the ancestors? Why not just go after me? What's the deal, dude?! My father then shifted his attention to Sly and spoke with an irritated tone in his voice,"The deal? The deal is YOU filthy COOPERS! You destroyed my father and you almost got to me! But not quite. Once I regained my wealth and power I SWORE to get rid of you and your family for good! And so today my revenge shall be complete! So, I figured what better way to send you off then to be somewhere exotic! This contraption right here I had your friend Penelope build before her unfortunate failure. I have the control over where you go with this machine and I have no idea where it will take you, that is if you survive the trip. Either way, I will never have to see your irritating faces EVER again! Bon voyage!" The machine then started to move them towards the time tunnel.Tears started to form in my eyes. I grabbed his arm and I yelled at him,"What happened to our promise?!! This isn't fair, Father!!" I can't let him hurt them! I need to do something! My father then turned his head towards me and spoke,"Fair? I had to grow up without your grandfather because of their cursed family! Our family has constantly been living in their shadow for ages! The Coopers ALWAYS get away with murder! Well, it shall not happen this time or ever again! Cooper will die so that the Le Paradox clan may live!" Tears went down my face and I punched him in the face.


	18. 18

My father fell to the edge of the platform writhing pain. I used this opportunity to go to the controls. I tried to figure out how to turn the machine off and to get Sly and Carmelita out. I then felt my arm suddenly get yanked away. My father yelled,"I have had enough! After this is done you are being punished, young lady!" I screamed,"I fucking hate you! I wish you were dead! There I said it! I don't love you and I wish I had a different dad! Let go of me!" Father was taken aback for a moment. He didn't say a word. I looked at him. I could tell he was about to cry, which surprised me since my dad never ever cried. He then angrily smacked me across my face. Carmelita gasped and spoke," Get your hands off of her you filthy skunk! Emma!" I fell to the side, tears dripping down my cheeks. My father yelled,"You should be grateful that you even have me! I had to live without a father and struggle to survive!" I spat at him,"My life would be so much better without you! You and your stupid fucking legacy are the reason why my life has been so terrible! You are the problem, father dearest! Sorry you have your head so far up your ass that you can't realize that!" All of a sudden we heard a crash and noticed that the casing holding sly and carmelita had been shattered. My father then angrily slammed his fist on the dashboard and yelled,"Cooper you vermin!" He then tried to grab them but then he accidentally ripped open the time warper. I gasped. It suddenly was sucking up everything in sight. Sly then spoke," Bentley take Carmelita and get off this thing!" Bentley then yelled," We ALL need to leave right now! That maniac tore a whole in time space!" Carmelita thenspoke," What about Emma?! I am not leaving without her! We have to get her away from Cyrille!" Sly then spoke," I am gonna take care of that now go! I have to settle this! For the whole Cooper family!"

My father held me tightly in his arms. I struggled continuously to break free. " Let me go Father! I swear to god I am not afraid to hurt you again!" My father ignored me and spoke,"Come Cooper! I shall teach you to fight like a gentleman!" Sly then spoke," And how would you know?" He then spoke," I will save that Cooper tongue for later!" Sly then lunged at him and whacked him with his cane. When father was distracted, I stepped on his foot hard and he let go of my instantly. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I ran over to Sly. He grabbed me and put me behind him. My father dazed and in pain laid on the ground. Sly then used then used this opportunity to charge up his attack. He winded up his cane and whacked my father's head. My father then held onto the edge with a fearful look on his face. He whimpered,"P-please, Sly...help me!" Sly narrowed his eyes and questioned,"Why should I? You literally tried to kill me and my family you fucking douche." He whined,"I did not wish to die!" I rolled my eyes and spoke to Sly,"Sly...no. This could be a trap." Sly then spoke,"Well, yea...but to let him die would make it too easy for him. Atleast he won't do any harm in a prison cell." He then took my father's hand and pulled him up. My father then stole the paraglider off of his back and spoke,"As I said! So predictable!" Sly then gritted his teeth and yelled,"This isn't over, I will find you and when I do you are gonna wish I had let you die right now!" He then laughed and spoke,"I do not think we will meet again, Sly Cooper! Au Revoir!" I then yelled and grabbed onto him,"Oh no you don't! You are not going anywhere! You are going to pay for what you have done you bastard!" However, my father just smirked at me and spoke,"Glad to see you decided to join me, dearest!" He then grabbed me tightly and jumped off. I screamed,"Sly! Help!" Sly then yelled,"Emma, NO!" Sly then taking a leap of faith, jumped onto me and my father and held onto his leg. My father then tried to kick him off and spoke,"Get off you insufferable rat!" Sly then spoke,"Emma, take my hand!" I then looked at him and spoke,"I would, but I'm being held in a really uncomfortable postion right now, Sly!" Sly then spoke,"Jump into my arms, Trust me!" My father then spoke,"She will not be going anywhere near your vermin self, Cooper! Give up now!" I struggled as much as I could to get out of his grasp. I then yelled as I finally got out of his tight grip I yelled,"See you later!" and dropped onto Sly. Sly then let go of le paradox's leg and yelled,"I got you!" My father yelled angrily,"No!"

Me and Sly landed in the river. He held onto me as tightly as he could. I then spoke,"Sly...are you...okay?" Sly then spoke regaining his breath,"I'm fine, Buttercup. I'm glad you're safe."

Me and Sly then slowly got out of the river. Carmelita then ran up to me and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back. She then kissed me passionately and spoke with tears in her eyes,"Emma...I was so worried about you! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" I then smiled and spoke,"I'm okay, thanks to Sly." She then let out a sigh of relief and spoke,"I...I was so afraid I was going to lose you..." I then kissed her cheek and spoke,"It's ok Sweetie...I know. I'm sorry I worried you." Murray and Bentley then ran up to me and Sly. Murray then yelled,"SLY! EMMA! OH THANK GOD!" He then hugged me and Sly tightly with tears in his eyes. "I am so glad you two are okay! Me and Ben were worried sick!" Sly then smiled warmly,"We're okay now, big guy." I then smiled at Murray.

Carmelita then spoke to me,"Where is that bastard father of yours? I have the police here searching for him." I shrugged my shoulders. An officer then shouted,"Inspector Carmelita! We have him. Which prison do we take him to?" Carmelita then smiled and spoke,"Thank you Ryan." Carmelita then looked at Cyrille's face, he looked absolutely miserable. I glanced at him. He caught my glance and looked away, as if he was almost...upset. I knew what he did was terrible and I was pissed at him about it, but in my heart there was a part of me that felt a little bad for him. I sighed. Would we have had a better relationship had this never happened? Had I never left his side? Carmelita then spoke,"Officer Ryan, he will be locked up in the highest security prison in Europe for life. Oh and also, put him in solitary confinement...just to be safe." The man then nodded and locked Cyrille up in handcuffs. He then got into the car and drove away.

Carmelita then went to Sly and spoke,"How are you doing, Ringtail?" Sly then smiled,"I'm a bit wet, but otherwise...I'm okay." Emma then spoke,"Well...what do we do now?" Carmelita then sighed,"I don't know to be honest, but I tell you...I could definitely use a vacation." Emma's eyes lit up and she spoke,"What a great idea! Let's do it! Let's go on vacation! Just the two of us." Carmelita's eyes then widened and she spoke,"W-what?? Are you serious? Where would we go? When would we go?" Emma then spoke,"I'm dead serious, babe. I was thinking maybe in a week or so? We could go wherever you want to go." Carmelita then spoke,"What about money? That could be expensive." Emma then spoke,"Well... since my dad can't use any of the money he got from his artifact trafficking...it went to me. So I figured, why not put it to some good use!" Carmelita then spoke,"Alright...hmm. Well...to tell you the truth, I have always wanted to go to the Amalfi Coast." Emma smiled warmly and spoke,"Sounds perfect, Caramel. Oh, and Carmelita? There something I wanted to ask you before I forgot." Carmelita then spoke,"Yes?" Emma then knelt down and got a ring out of her pocket. She spoke,"Carmelita...will you marry me?" Carmelita suddenly had tears well up in her eyes and she spoke,"Of course, my love. I love you more than anything my little Emmy. " She then jumped into Emma's arms and kissed her passionately. Murray then spoke,"Awwww! You guys are so cute!" Bentley then spoke,"Congrats, you two." Sly then spoke,"Haha, I guess we all better start picking out tuxedos and dresses soon." Emma giggled and spoke,"We haven't even planned it yet!" Sly then spoke,"Doesn't hurt to be prepared, Buttercup." Carmelita then spoke,"It's getting late. We should get going." Sly then spoke,"Yea, we should probably get back to the hideout and get some shut eye. You coming, Emma?" I looked at Carmelita and spoke," I think I am gonna stay with Carmelita tonight, guys." Sly then smiled and spoke,"Alright. Have a good night guys."

Emma and Carmelita then made it back to her apartment. They both took their shoes off and walked in. Emma collapsed onto the couch. She then spoke,"Ahhhh... so comfy hehe." Carmelita giggled. She then went to her room and changed into her pjs. Emma then spoke,"Oh my god...I just remembered. All of my clothes are at my dad's house." Carmelita then spoke,"We will deal with that tomorrow, sweetie. Don't worry. You can borrow some of my pjs for tonight." I then spoke,"Why can't we go there now? I don't think it is too far from here." Carmelita sighed,"Barkley and the other officers are inspecting that house for hidden contraband and drugs as we speak. Although it never specifically said that your dad trafficked drugs, we need to make sure. Protocol, as always. There is no way they are gonna let us go in there freely without their approval." Emma then sighed,"Oh wow. It still feels so surreal to be honest. Dad being a mastermind criminal and all. He was the person who I looked up to as a child and would always go to when I needed a shoulder to cry on. When I was a little girl, I thought my dad was a hero. I thought him and our family were great and noble people, like Sly's family. However, I was also 5 when I believed that. As I started to get older...he started becoming less and less of a hero to me and more of someone I didn't want to be around." Emma sighed. She spoke again,"Sorry to unload I just...ugh." Carmelita then hugged Emma and spoke,"It's alright, you have been through a lot honey. It's not normal what he did, and you did the right thing. No matter what he says to you, always know that you are loved and not wrong

about any of this." Emma then smiled and spoke,"Thank you."


	19. Chapter 19

Emma spoke,"So...when would you like to go on vacation, my lovely fiancee? Hehe." Carmelita smirked and kissed Emma on her cheek,"How about next week? I'm on vacation from work anyways." Emma smiled,"Sounds perfect."

_One week later..._

Emma put the last piece of clothing into her suitcase. Carmelita spoke as she walked out of the bathroom,"Emma, did you remember to pack the medicines?" Emma smiled,"It's all in there, Sweetie." Carmelita spoke,"Alright. What time does our flight leave again?" Emma checked her phone,"1:30 pm, on the dot." Carmelita then facepalmed,"Dios mio! It is 12:00pm already! We need to get to the airport!" Emma calmly spoke,"Relax, Honey. We are gonna get there. Everything is gonna be fine. Everything is done being packed, All we need to do now is get into the car and drive there. No worries." Carmelita sighed,"Sorry, I just want everything to be perfect. This is our first trip together and-" Emma kissed her cheek,"And everything is going to be great because the most important thing is that we are together." Carmelita blushed lightly and smiled,"You're right. Let's get going."

They got into Carmelita's pink convertible and put all of the suitcases in the trunk. Carmelita got into the driver's seat, and Emma got into the passenger's seat. They then drove to the airport.

Carmelita shouted,"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Where did all of this traffic come from?! Ughhh!" Emma held her hand over the middle of both the seats,"Breathe, Sweetie. Count to ten. We are literally a mile away and we have 40 minutes til our flight, it's going to be fine." Carmelita groaned. After 15 minutes of traffic, Carmelita raced to the airport. She then parked as close as she could to the entrance of the airport. She rapidly opened the trunk and got the suitcases out of the car. She took Emma's hand and ran towards the airport. Emma breathed heavily,"Sweetie... please slow down...I'm not as fast as you..." Carmelita nodded and slowed her pace a little,"Sorry, querida. I just don't want us missing our flight."

When they both got inside they made it to the security station and went dirctly to the waiting area. Emma checked the time, it was currently 1:15 pm. Carmelita took a deep breath when she sat down. Emma chuckled,"Are you okay now, Darling?" Carmelita nodded weakly. She looked absolutely exhausted.

10 minutes later, the stewardess began taking tickets for the flight. Both foxes then got up and handed their tickets and boarded the plane. Emma took the window seat, and Carmelita sat right besides her. Carmelita took a breath of relief,"We made it. Thank goodness." Emma held her hand gently and smiled,"I told you we would. You need to stop being such a worry wart, hehe." Carmelita spoke,"Well, if it weren't for my punctual self, we might have missed it." Emma chuckled,"You have a point there...that traffic certainly didn't help either . But the important part is that we made it here on time in the end." Carmelita nodded,"Agreed."

Carmelita had fallen asleep 30 minutes into the flight. Her head was laying on Emma's shoulder. Emma had been watching a movie so far. She smiled at Carmelita. She looked so adorable when she slept. A voice came on to the speaker,"_Hello ladies and gentlemen, we are going to be going through some turbulence due to inclement weather. Please fasten your seatbelts." _Emma cursed. That wasn't good. The seatbelt light went on and made a minor beeping noise. Carmelita opened her eyes slowly and sat up in her seat. She looked disoriented and confused. Emma brushed the hair away from her face,"Hey sweetie, it's ok. We are just going through some turbulence." Carmelita groaned,"Oh boy, great." The plane started to occaisionally bump and rock, but thankfully it was nothing too severe. Emma had drowned out the turbulent weather and listened to music. Carmelita held onto her seat handles tightly, being extremely uncomfortable the entire time. The turbulence technically lasted about 20 minutes, but to Carmelita it felt like forever.

When it finally ended, it was time to land the plane. Carmelita let out a sigh of relief as the plane came into the airport. Emma rubbed her hand gently,"Are you alright, dear? It's all over now." Carmelita then got up from the seat and spoke hurriedly,"Yes, I'm fine. Let's get out of here."

When they entered the airport they grabbed their suitcases from the ramp and walked towards the exit. Emma questioned,"Dearest, how are we going to get to our hotel?" Carmelita spoke,"I hired a driver for us. He should be here soon."

A car then came up to them. The driver then pulled down the window and spoke with an Italian accent,"Are you Miss Fox?" Carmelita replied,"This is she. Thank you for arriving on time." The man smiled and shook her hand,"Not a problem. My name is Paolo, nice to meet you two." Carmelita nodded,"Pleasure is all ours." He smiled warmly,"I can put your suitcases in the back for you, if you'd like." Emma smiled,"Thank you sir." The man then spoke,"Anytime, ladies. Now, where are you dames off to?" Carmelita informed,"Can you take us to the Le Sirenuse hotel, please?" Paolo replied,"Not a problem. Lovely hotel by the way, my ma stayed there once."

Paolo parked the car in front of the hotel and spoke,"Here we are! Have a nice stay ladies. Call me if you need a ride in the future, alright? Take care!" Carmelita spoke,"Thank you." Emma waved to Paolo as he drove off,"Thank you Paolo! See you soon!" The two girls then walked into the hotel. Emma was awestruck. It felt like she had literally walked into a beautiful garden. The vines and elegant plants that adorned the walls of the lobby looked very fancy. Carmelita walked up to the front desk and talked to the receptionist. He then gave her a key and the two girls then walked to their room. Emma had a bit of struggle lifting her suitcase up the stairs so they took the elevator instead.

When they walked inside their room they put their suitcases down besides their beds and sat down. Carmelita collapsed onto the bed. Emma sat besides her and chuckled,"Looks like someone has had enough adventure for one day, haha." Carmelita sighed,"I'm sorry, Sweetie." Emma reassured her,"No worries. I'm a bit tired myself, to be honest. But we are going out to dinner tonight atleast? Right?" Carmelita kissed her gently and spoke,"Of course, my love. What kind of a fiancee do you think I am, haha?" Emma smiled at her gently and chuckled,"A very loving and generous one." Carmelita and her then cuddled and took a nap shortly after.


End file.
